


I Still Love You's & I'm Sorry's

by Lotty1572



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: #SorryNotSorry, Allura is a REAL bitch in this one, Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Human Lance (Voltron), It took me like not even 2 weeks to write this, It's an Omegaverse, Just proves I don't have a life, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-07-27 12:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16219253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lotty1572/pseuds/Lotty1572
Summary: This originally was a oneshot I decided to do for fun on a word doc, and it somehow turned into over 50 pages long because I didn't want to do my homework and was procrastinating hardcore. I could lowkey qualify for the procrastination championships but I'm too lazy and I'd find a way out of it.ANYWAY! This is an omegaverse fic. Like does that say enough? Klance omegaverse? Yay? Idk, you'll have to see for yourself! I really want to write some hardcore angst right now as well. Maybe I will.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. Have fun kiddos!

 

 

‘It’s been two weeks now,’ Keith thought as the team all flew into the lion’s hanger.

‘Two fucking weeks since all this shit started.’

The lions landed carefully on the ground and paladins hopped out to be greeted by Allura and Coran.

“Well done paladins!” Coran began.

“Yes, well done indeed! You have managed to save another planet and they have invited us all to attend a banquet! The leader and I shall discuss our agreements, as well as find out if they will aid us in our fight,” Allura said such a large smile that light up the room.

Keith glanced from Allura to Lance, who stood as far away from him as possible.

‘Wow, he really needs to hide behind Shiro, Hunk and Pidge because he doesn’t want to look at me? Huh, guess I am that horrifying,’ Keith thought, letting his gaze drop down to the cold floor.

“Keith! Are you listening?” Allura shouted, causing Keith to jump in the process.

“Y-yes princess.”

She gave him a dirty look before turning back to the rest of the team with another large smile on her face- Keith was afraid that she’d split in half. His gaze shifted once more and he found himself staring into two blue orbs, a shiver ran down his spine and Lance let a smirk run across his face before he scoffed at Keith and turned his attention back to the princess with a loving look. Keith’s heart practically broke at the sight.

Suddenly Allura stopped talking and the team disbanded, all spreading off to do their own things. Pidge was most likely going to work on some form of technology she had been remaking. Hunk was probably going to go and cook to calm his nerves after the battle they had just fought. Shiro was off to either train in the training deck or talk with Allura in the control room. Lance, he was probably going to go play video games or maybe he would help out Hunk or Pidge today. And Keith? Keith was going to go vomit in the toilet for the 3rd time that day. He’d had morning sickness for at least a week now, and he hated it.

It wasn’t as if people had noticed though. He had to excuse himself a few times from dinner before he quickly ran to his room to throw up but everyone just assumed that he couldn’t take the food, which was technically true, Keith couldn’t eat the stuff Coran dished up every now and then because his baby obviously didn’t like it.

Yeah, if you hadn’t guessed by now with the whole ‘morning sickness’ thing, Keith was pregnant, and take a wild guess at whose baby it was. Go ahead, you’re probably 100% right if you read the tags- and now the narrator will have to calm down so they don’t break the 4th wall.

But yes. Lance was the father.

How you ask? Well, it was actually quite a shock to Keith when he found out too. That Galran men can also be Omegas, unlike earth men.

Maybe it was the harsh personalities that drew away the kind, caring and sympathetic hearts the Omegas held, until Kolivan explained that most were hidden away in case of a crazed Alpha.

This new found knowledge terrified Keith. Not only was he part Galra, but he could be a weak Omega? The only weak Omega in Voltron? Keith didn't like that idea.

He had never been told what he was either, and never held any characteristics for any Alpha, Beta or an Omegan person. He was quiet, but sometimes he would let his frustration take over- one of the traits he got from being half Galra he supposed.

But it wasn’t until a week after when he found out, what are the chances? When he had his first heat.

Key word ‘had’, it was for less than a day, thanks to a certain someone.

Lance happened to be walking by when Keith suddenly fell on the floor in a gasping sweat. And Lance being Lance, wasn’t actually a dick and was instead mildly concerned. So, he picked Keith up bridal style, and took him to his bedroom as it was closer than Keith’s and he really didn’t look good at all- to anyone else that is. For some strange reason Lance could almost hear his Alpha chanting to him in the back of his head and he didn’t know why. He ‘knew’ Keith was an ‘Alpha’ and a ‘sick’ one at that, but both of their inner voices caught hold of them- and they ended up doing the do.

 

Keith leaned over the toilet bowl as he emptied anything that was swimming in his stomach into it once more.

‘This sucks,’ Keith thought to himself, leaning back on the glass shower plane.

His throat burned, as did his nose and everything hurt, like really bad. All he wanted to do was fall into a deep sleep and preferably never wake up until the baby was born, he knew that he would have to wake up then. He wouldn’t abandon this baby and let it fend for itself in the great unknown because let’s face the facts. First off they were out in space and how confusing would that be? A human child growing up on an alien planet for their whole life knowing that they weren’t like everyone else but not knowing why? The thought itself broke Keith’s heart. Secondly, Keith couldn’t even stand the thought of aborting the baby that slowly grew inside of him with each passing minute. That little bean was a life, a life that he intended to protect with his own life and nurture until he couldn’t anymore. And thirdly, Keith couldn’t let the poor thing grow up unprotected, especially around someone who truly hates the Galra with a vengeance. He wouldn’t let anyone know about his baby, and he wouldn’t let anyone know he was an omega. Around a week before Keith had rounded everyone out, and told them he was part Galra- and everyone acted the way he thought they would.

 

~***~

 

As he finished the sentence he could hear a slight murmuring, as if they thought he was joking, he looked up at them all with serious tear filled eyes and that shut them up.

A face of betrayal was all Keith could see when he looked at them all.

Broken trust was evident in Shiro’s grey eyes.

Anger flooded over Pidge’s expression.

Worry filled Hunk’s wide eyes.

Shock numbed Coran completely and he stared into the abyss.

Hatred spread over Allura’s once cheerful smile from when she heard that he had organized a meeting.

But Lance? Lance’s expression was the worst of all. It held disgust, making Keith flinch back. And the worst thing?

Keith could read all their expressions so easily it only scared him more.

Lance had a certain question flying through his head on repeat and Keith could tell what it was.

‘How?’

‘How can this be real?’

‘How could this happen to me?’

‘How could I ever love that?’

‘How could I even think of doing ANYTHING with THAT?’

And Keith, he was so afraid. Even more so when the shouting started. He could tell that if he looked Galran at this moment his purple and fuzzy ears would be stuck to his curly hair in an attempt to block them all out.

Quickly he apologised and rushed out of the room, Shiro called out to him before he shouted towards the rest of the paladins even though his voice shook, Keith knew that Shiro was lecturing himself more than the others.

 

~***~

 

Keith lunged forward as he felt another wave of sickness overtake him. He sat up as best he could and his stomach lurched, causing him to through up the remaining contents that he was able to hold down from breakfast. Keith stared down at the mess in the toilet, it didn’t make any sense. Even though he had barely eaten anything he was still throwing up even though he already had earlier, most of it was just stomach juices that made his mouth taste disgusting even when he tried to mask it with toothpaste. Morning sickness was horrible and this was when Keith just starting out, he prayed for the future as well as all the other woman that went through this before to bring a bundle of joy into the world. Slowly he stood up, feeling slightly better after the toilet episode number 3.

As he began to once again brush his teeth he wondered if there was anything he could take to calm the morning sickness, but he doubted he could find anything that wouldn’t harm the baby out here, plus he didn’t want anyone finding out. Keith was scared as to what would happen if the rest of the team found out, and he wasn’t just scared for himself but for his unborn baby as well.

He rinsed his mouth one last time, but could still faintly taste the acids. Keith continued out his door and decided to just walk around the ship as he didn’t really ‘belong’ in any certain place and was afraid of hurting the baby if he wasn’t too careful when fighting in the training deck, or just fighting in general.

Keith paused in the hallway.

‘While I’m pregnant, everyone will be able to tell eventually. I can’t fight hand to hand in case I hurt them, I might not be able to even fly red anymore.’

A door beside him flew open with the familiar ‘swoosh’ sound. Keith looked up frightened, to meet two ocean eyes, Lance stood in front of him just as frozen. With a churning stomach Keith took a step forward and cleared his throat.

“Um, I wanted to talk to you,” He said shyly.

“Well hurry up then, I haven’t got all day,” Lance said sounding irritated while not meeting Keith’s eyes.

“It’s, uh, about that night-”

“Look. It was an accident. I don’t know what the hell I was doing and if I was given the chance to go back and restart? I would so that I was never in this mess. All the shit i said was a lie and I didn’t mean any of it,” Lance said while he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

“B-but-”

“None. Of. It. Everything and anything I said that night was a lie. I don’t love you Keith okay? I don’t care about you at all, so please just leave me alone and don’t get in my way again.”

Keith could feel the tears welling up as Lance walked off down the hallway.

The things he said only made Keith want to crawl up and die even more, but he had to be strong. He knew that. He knew he had to be strong for his baby, and if Lance wouldn’t even hear him out then so be it. Keith would be strong for his baby and his baby alone. And that’s when Keith made up his mind. He was leaving and no one could stop him.

Several tears dripped down his face as he turned the corner and ran right into (a wild) Pidge, who was looking up at him with wide eyes. Keith shifted back quickly remembering how angry she had been when she found out that he was part Galra. He mumbled a sorry before turning around and starting to walk back, but she stopped him and pulled him into a tight hug.

“No I’m sorry! You probably think I hate you after how I reacted and I’m sorry Keith!” She cried.

Keith was startled but began to hug her as well, patting her back as she cried into his chest.

“Pidge it’s fine, you weren’t the only person there who acted that way,” He said gently.

“B-but, I was just so angry, because I thought you would’ve told us that you were part Galra earlier! Because we’re all family and you could trust us.”

Keith was taken aback once more.

“I know that I can trust you- I just-”

“Don’t worry Keith, I know it can be scary. I know you’re going to leave too, and I know that you made up you’re mind when you were trying to talk to Lance,” Pidge sniffed.

“Oh so you were eavesdropping,” Keith said with a smirk, trying to change the depressing atmosphere.

“Don’t you go changing subjects on me Keith,” Pidge retorted with a laugh, “But you are going, aren’t you.”

Keith’s smirk dropped and he nodded his head, Pidge pulled away and gave him a sad look.

“If that’s what you want Keith. I won’t tell them where you’re going, or even that you left if you want.”

“Pidge, thank you. Thank you so much,” Keith said pulling her back into another hug.

“Wow, you’re sure huggy today huh?”

“Hormones,” Keith mumbled into the hug.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

They pulled back and looked at each other with sad smiles.

“I’m guessing I probably won’t see you before you leave, but you’ll definitely be missed Keith, promise to visit before the next decade,” She said with tears in her eyes.

“Pidge of course,” He said, wiping the tears that ran down her cheek, “I’m sure you’d find me anyway, but I promise we’ll meet again.”

Pidge nodded her head before they both stepped away from each other and went their separate ways with a wave.

 

***

 

Keith had long since finished packing a small duffle bag, it had several warm blankets, some water and food- containers of space goo and what not, a thin pillow and a stuffed hippo toy he happened to pick up when he was visiting the space mall.

He filled his lungs with a deep breath before exhaling and walking out of his room, leaving his bag on the bed. Keith walked towards the control room where he found Pidge talking to the others with a frown lacing her expression. As the door closed everyone's attention had been drawn towards Keith who stood nervously at the door while glancing at all their faces. He decided to walk down and stand next to Pidge.

“Is everything alright?” He asked the rest of the group patting Pidge’s shoulder.

“No Keith it is not,” Pidge mumbled or more whispered.

Allura cleared her throat.

“The team and I were thinking that it would be best if you did not come to the banquet, whereas Pidge disagreed and believed that you should be there,” She stated through a hard expression.

Pidge pouted off to the side.

“You didn’t have to do that Pidge, you know I’ll be fine,” He whispered back to her.

She looked at him before pulling away and storming out of the room, Keith couldn’t help but feel guilty. He turned back to Allura with an emotionless expression.

“Now look what you’ve done! You’re tearing this team apart!” Allura screamed.

“Allur-” Hunk began.

“Stay out of this,” She hissed.

Hunk froze before stepping back beside Lance.

“Hey no,” Lance started, “You don’t get to push any of us around when none of us did anything wrong, especially Keith.”

‘Yeah, rich coming from you.’ Keith thought to himself, but gave Lance a worried look when he shuddered.

“Lance. I said. Stay out of this!” She yelled.

“Allura please cal-” Shiro started.

“No! I will not calm! You all-”

“FINE! I DON’T CARE OKAY! I’LL STAY HERE FOR THE BANQUET!” Keith yelled, before panting to catch his breath.

The whole room stopped to stare at him, motionless, waiting for him to walk out like Pidge had.

“It’s fine, I had some things to do anyways. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to find Pidge,” He said before walking back out the door.

Allura breathed out a frustrated breath. “Well, I’m glad that THAT is over!”

Lance and Hunk ignored her before walking out of the room and Shiro just sighed while sitting down on the couch to take a break.

 

***

 

Keith wandered up to Pidge’s door, knocking gently before she opened the door and, upon seeing him, enveloped him in a warm hug. They both walked into her bedroom, Keith struggling to get through all the protein bar wrappers and bolts while she just jumped onto her bed.

“How do you live in this?” Keith asked with a shudder.

“I don’t know, just don’t have enough time for cleaning and all that. When did you become such a neat freak,” She teased.

“I am not a neat freak! I just- how can you possibly survive in this? I’m sure if I gassed this place I’d find a new species of cockroach!”

Pidge paused before looking up at him.

“A new species?” She repeated.

“It’ll probably have gigantic wings and breathe in zero gravity so that it can follow you until you can’t go any further,” Keith said, hands gesturing in a creepy manner.

“EWW! Okay okay I get it! I’ll clean up!!” Pidge laughed.

“Good!” Keith huffed before crossing his arms with a smile.

Pidge looked down at her blankets while Keith hopped over a garbage mound and sat down on the bed.

“I take it you won’t be going to the banquet now either?” She asked, playing with the material.

Keith shook his head.

“It’s not right! You’re just as much a part of Voltron as any of us!”

“Pidge-”

“No! It’s not fine Keith! It really isn’t and you have to stop saying that you’re fine when someone treats you like shit.”

“...Yeah. Yeah I know,” Keith said looking down at his pants.

He was now sitting in front of her in a cross legged position.

“You’re probably going to leave when we go to the banquet, right?” She asked hollowly.

“Yeah. I was planning to leave while you all slept but… I guess that this will work just as well,” he responded, looking at the dark roof.

“I’m really gonna miss you,” Pidge said as she leapt up to hug him again.

Keith hugged her back tightly.

“I’ll miss you too Pidge. I hope you find me after a while, because I sure as heck won’t be coming back to this hell hole,” He said with a snicker (You’re not you when you’re hormonal. Eat a snickers)

Pidge laughed.

“Yeah, I know. Hey, but what about Red? Who’s gonna pilot her?”

Keith shrugged.  
“I don’t know, but I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

There was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal Hunk and standing behind him was Lance who was looking pale and sickly.

“O-oh, sorry Keith. We didn’t know that you were in here,” Hunk stuttered.

“It’s fine, I need to leave soon anyway,” Keith said with a small smile.

The whole room stared at the smile in awe.

“Wow what the fuck did you just do?!” Pidge screamed grabbing a cross from her trash pile.

“What?”

“You-You smile??” Hunk said surprised.

“Smile? Yeah, doesn’t everyone? I smile all the time,” Keith said confused.

“You really don’t. Has God finally got to you my son?? Is THAT why you act this way!” Pidge screeched tipping the cross upside down and attempting to ward away something.

Pidge’s actions made Keith laugh loudly and clutch his stomach. The whole room froze again before it erupted in screams.

“HOLY FUCK HE’S LAUGHING NOW! KEITH WHAT THE HELL YOUR LAUGH SOUNDS LIKE AN ANGELS! WHAT THE FU-”

“Hey now, no swearing Pidge. Where did you even get that?” Keith asked calmly, gesturing to the cross.

“I’m glad you asked,” Pidge said before taking residence back on her bed, “I was in the earth section in the space mall and turns out that they thought that it was for cleaning your ears! Can you believe that?!”

“I mean could be worse,” Hunk said and Keith nodded in agreement.

“Well, anyways I better go now,” Keith said before giving Pidge another hug and walking out of the room.

“See you guys,” Keith said with another smile.

“Yeah, bye man…?” Hunk said with a wave and Lance grunted.

He watched Lance and Hunk walk into Pidges room and Keith walked off towards the lions hanger.

As he walked in he was immediately overcome by the wave of warmth Red emitted.

“Hey girl,” Keith said fondly.

He heard Red pur in reply.

“You already know what I’m here for, but I’m going to tell you anyway,” He said, sitting down on her paw.

“I’m leaving, I don’t really know where I’ll end up. But I just can’t stay here anymore, it won’t be safe for the baby. I’m sure I’ll come back one day in the future, but for now you’ll have to find another Red paladin.”

Red growled in reply to ‘another Red paladin’ it was obvious that she rather Keith stay.

“Look, I’m sorry read but my pup isn’t safe here and I just- I don’t want them to grow up here. If anything, I’d rather be back on Earth so that they could have a proper upbringing, but for now I’ll find a similar planet or something and bring them up there, I’m sure you’d find me if it was really necessary.”

Red steadily became more quiet as if she was agreeing to let him go.

“Okay then Red, I guess the others should be off soon. So I’ll leave you be, and maybe we’ll see each other again. Hell, maybe you’ll see my kid!” Keith said with a chuckle.

He pushed himself off of Reds paw, as he reached the doors he felt a different wave. He knew it was the other lions, they were bidding him farewell and he couldn’t help but smile before he whispered a slight goodbye and walked out the door.

 

***

 

‘The banquet should be finishing around now. They won’t know I’m gone until I don’t turn up to training tomorrow.’ Keith thought as he sat in the Altean pod.

He was nearly at one of the Blades bases, where he knew Kolivan would currently be. Let’s just say Keith had a lot of questions about, well, everything on anything right now.

He could feel his palms growing sweater as he landed the pod, and was greeted by Kolivan, as soon as he stepped out Kolivan moved forward sniffing the air slightly.

”You are with pup?” He deducted.

“Really? It was that easy for you to tell?” Keith said with a laugh.

“Omega’s already have a much sweeter smell as it is, which was why I thought it necessary to mention it to you when you last visited-”

“So, you knew I was an Omega?” Keith but in.

Kolivan nodded, which earned a sigh from Keith.

“And currently your scent is much sweeter- usually this happens when you mate with someone but it is plain to see that you are currently pregnant,” He stated.

Keith hummed in reply before Kolivan looked behind him to the Altean pod.

“Have you come alone?”

“Ah, yeah I have.”

“Does anyone know that you are here”

“No. Well, Pidge might know I’m here,” Keith mumbled.

“The Green paladin? I would’ve assumed it the Blue Paladin,” Kolivan said and started walking off.

“Lance?” Keith asked, visibly uncomfortable.

“I suppose it is best not to mention the Blue Paladin in your presence?”

“Uh, yeah. We didn’t exactly leave on, well, good terms.”

Kolivan nodded and led Keith into a small room with a large screen on the far wall, he pulled up a window of sorts before typing in characters and symbols that Keith had yet to learn. A large script of writing appeared and Kolivan gestured towards the screen.

“This should hold any information you seek about your state, I will round up a Galran omega to explain anything to you that you do not understand. The writing should be readable for you.”

Keith nodded and watched Kolivan exit the room, taking a seat he began reading the information that was displayed on the glowing purple screen.

 

***

 

The banquet from the night before had completely wiped the paladins out.

Lance had just arrived in the dining hall still unsure if he was completely awake. He sat down in his normal seat, and was surprised to see that Keith wasn’t next to him.

“Anyone know where Keith is?” Shiro suddenly asked, concern evident in his voice.

“Nope, haven’t seen him since yesterday with Pidge,” Hunk said with a mouthful of goo.

Pidge and Lance both stayed quiet and the air became tense, until Coran burst into the room.

“Paladins! Quickly you all need to come to the control room!”

And like that, everyone was already on their way out the door and through to the control room.

Allura stood there searching through multiple screens at once.

“Allura? What seems to be the problem?” Shiro asked.

“The problem is that one of the pods seemed to leave last night while we were attending the banquet,” She said while pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Does anyone know where Keith may go?” She asked with a frustrated sigh.

The room stayed silent.

“Oh come on, none of you?”

“If I was Keith you’d be the last person I’d want to see,” Pidge said emotionlessly.

“Excuse me?” Allura was taken aback.

“You’ve been treating Keith like shit! No wonder he decided to finally pack up and leave this hell hole!” Pidge shouted, making the older paladins jump back.

“Hey Pidge-” Shiro started.

“And why would you care anyway? You were the one that wanted him gone just because he’s part Galra!”

“How dare you! I felt no such way!” Allura yelled back.

“Yes! Yes you did! The way you looked at him! The way you acted towards him! And the things you said to him all made it quite clear that you suddenly hated him! So why would you even care if he was gone-”

Suddenly Pidge paused in the midst of her yelling.

“If the reason you’re worried is about him leaving his role as paladin, then you really are horrible Allura. He’s probably already talked to Red saying that he had to leave for a while- you know, he probably won’t come back even if you drag him!”

Hunk wrapped Pidge in a warm hug to get her to calm down as Lance watched on feeling sick to his stomach.

“Fine. Keith is gone. We are in need of a new paladin to pilot the Red Lion,” Allura seethed.

She quickly dismissed then and Lance was the first one to leave, running down the corridors that seemed dimmer without the competitions and ‘fights’ he would have with Keith. He stood outside Keith’s room, hesitant until the door flew open to reveal a dark room. Lance stepped in, the door flying closed behind him.

The room was desolate.

No sign of Keith or any of his belongings.

Lance slumped to the ground, back against the door and began to cry.

He never wanted any of this to happen.

He loved Keith, he really did.

But that night something just overcame him and he didn’t know what he was saying.

‘Yeah excuses, excuses McClain. Keith is gone now and it’s all your fucking fault.’ He thought to himself.

‘He’s gone. And it’s all your fault.’

 

***

 

Keith stood in the boarding bay for cargo and missions saying his farewells to Kolivan and the elderly Galra woman he had met who just happened to be at the station.

“Thank you very much for your help, both of you,” Keith said with a smile.

“It was quite alright,” Kolivan said, the elderly lady nodded in agreement.

“Oh, and um. Can I trouble you for one more favour?”

“And that would be?”

“If the paladins come looking for me, please don’t tell them where I’m headed, or that I was here. They probably won’t come but just incase, I don’t want them finding me yet,” Keith said, keeping his head down.

“If that is what you wish. Stay safe Keith and raise your pup with pride,” Kolivan said gently.

Keith waved them goodbye before getting into one of the blades pods and set off for- he actually had no fucking clue where he was headed because don’t you just love the rush you get from going on a random drive to nowhere and finding a nice little place whether it be a cafe or a bookshop of even just a clearing in a forest it really is a great feeling And the narrator has gone off track again.

But Keith really did have no idea where he was going. He just knew that he had to get as far away as he could from Allura and the castle in general. Far, far, far away.

It had been several hours. Well that’s what Keith thought, there really wasn’t a good concept of time when you were in space (Proving that Time is really a social construct). He was tired but decided against sleeping for now, when he found a stable planet he would rest.

And suddenly he found a stable planet where he would be able to rest!  
It didn’t look overly large, but it resembled Earth quite a lot- as if it were almost it’s twin in another universe. There seemed to be more water than land, and the water was scattered throughout the land in large puddles.

‘Maybe a jungle like planet?’ Keith thought to himself calmly.

He willed the pod to enter the atmosphere and get a better look, which it did. The pod soared over the ocean until it finally came to a desert like plain with many metal objects discarded around it in a circle.

Keith looked through the window with a confused frown when suddenly alarms were lighting up the screen in red and blue. Panic flooded Keith’s expressions and fear twisted in his stomach as the pod stopped responding and began to drop to the ground at insane speeds. Quickly he curled up into a ball, protecting his stomach as best he could when he felt something warm engulf him. Peeking through one eye, he found that a golden red light began to light up his body.

That was the last thing he saw before he blacked out.

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

“Alright Paladins, I-...Where is Lance?” Allura asked tiredly.

“He said that he was getting those pains again,” Hunk reported.

Allura groaned, “Again?”

“Again.”

“Alright then, Shiro? Would you please go find out what’s wrong with him, thank you.”

Shiro walked out of the control room before he tapped his knuckles on Keith’s old room, which Lance now used.

“Lance? It’s Shiro, can I come in?” Shiro asked and earned a groan in response.

“Hey man, what’s wrong.”  
“Don’t know- My alpha’s really angry at me for no good reason,” Lance grunted.

“So you’re in pain and your alpha is mad at you?” Shiro repeated.

“Mhmm.”

“Um, well Lance this may come as a shock to you, but I think that your Alpha has mated to someone without you knowing and it’s having separation anxiety. Big time.”  
  
“Are you serious! God dammit!”

“Hey now, calm down we’ll figure this out,” Shiro said softly.

“But this has been happening for years Shiro! Why is it so painful all of the sudden?”

Shiro shrugged, “Maybe you’ve been too far away from this person for too long.”

Lance only groaned.

“Okay, I’ll go tell Allura and we’ll figure this out.”

Shiro left the room quietly and walked calmly back to Allura, thinking of how he would explain all this.

When he arrived in the control room Allura and the other paladins were talking to Kolivan on a large screen.

“Allura, I think I may know what is wrong with Lance,” Shiro stated calmly.

“Really? Okay then, is there anything to help him get better?”

“Well. I think that his Alpha might be feeling separation anxiety and it’s severe enough to physically hurt him.”

“That does sound severe,” Allura said, holding her hand up to her chin.

“You say the Blue paladin is experiencing this?” Kolivan asked.

“Well, Red paladin now, but yes,” Allura responded.

“I see. I might know who he has been mated to.”

“Seriously?” Shiro asked, walking forward to stand with Pidge and Hunk.

“Yes, I believe so. I can probably show you the way to the planet, but you will need to take the lions.”

“Very well, thank you Kolivan, we shall be arriving soon,” Allura stated firmly.

The screen went blank and Allura turned to Shiro.

“How did this happen?” She asked clearly annoyed.

“I have no clue, but I’m sure that we can find a way to make him better,” Shiro said.

“Yes. I have a few ideas which could be of help. Alright then everyone, dismissed for now!”  
And with that everyone once again dispersed, most of them retreating back to their rooms to take a quick nap before the next strenuous adventure began.

Lately it felt as if they didn’t even had time to breathe before they were being sent on another mission. Mission after mission after mission that they would successfully complete, but that never stopped the constant training. Since Keith’s disappearance Allura had been pushing everyone harder and further. Pidge had gone mute, Hunk’s bubbly attitude had started to fade after the years of war, Shiro stayed relatively similar but would sometimes get flashbacks of his time as a prisoner and Lance still put on his fake exterior to lighten the mood although after Keith left he had become quite depressed. After 7 years of not seeing a fellow friend and comrade they started to realise the flaws in how they acted towards him.

“We are arriving at the base now, everyone please come to the control room!” Allura’s voice echoed over the coms.

Soon everyone had reassembled, including Lance which was a shock but he explained that he was feeling a lot better suddenly.  
Kolivan greeted them all and explained once more that the person was not on the base and instead on a planet further away. It was decided that Kolivan would ride in with Allura while on the way to the planet. While they drew closer towards the planet Lance couldn’t help but shake a feeling that there was something on that planet that he so desperately needed.

“Now, paladins. This planet is known for its high area of magnetism,” Kolivan said.

“Meaning?” Lance asked.

“Meaning if you’re not careful then you’ll be dragged towards the ground and not be able to stop yourself,” Shiro continued.

“Yes, so be caref-”

“Uh guys? Red isn’t responding, I think she’s shut down!” Lance yelled.

“Same here with yellow! She’s stopped working!” Hunk yelled as well.

Kolivans sigh echoed through the coms that were luckily still working, although they were gravelly sounding through the helmets.

“You must have gone into the magnetic circles pul-” And like that Kolivan was cut off as both the Red and Yellow lions were pulled towards the ground with a deafening crash.

“Lance! Hunk! Are you both okay?!” Shiro yelled through the coms.

They were greeted with static.

“Come on you guys please!”

Hunks groan fizzled into the coms.

“I think I’m okay,” He grunted.

“Lance?” Shiro asked once more.

“Ye-yeah I’m here too,” Lance mumbled.

“We’ll need to land next to the jungle right there,” Kolivan said, “So the Red and Yellow paladins will need to get out of their lions and follow us here, it’s close so it should be fine.”

“Okay. You guys get that?” Shiro asked.

“Yep clear as crystal!” Lance said cheerfully.

“Let’s get moving everyone,” Allura said and earned a few ‘yeah’s in return.

The remaining lions that hadn’t fallen into the magnetic pull landed next to the jungle, sweeping up dust as they landed down. Pidge, Shiro, Allura and Kolivan all got out of the lions before they waited for Hunk and Lance to come. Which they soon did, crawling up over a broken down shuttle to meet back with the group.

Kolivan nodded to them all before he began to trudge through the forest.

“Wait- hold on you’re telling me we have to walk through the jungle?” Lance wined.

“What did you expect?” Allura said, not really listening.

“I don’t know but jungles are humid and sticky! You’ve gotta be at the beach on days like that!”

“If you’re loud you’ll attract unwanted attention,” Kolivan stated before continuing through several large leaves.

That seemed to shut everyone up.

The sun leaked through the large overgrown trees, moisture hung in the air and stuck to their sweaty bodies. Unknown species of birds and animals made unfamiliar sounds throughout the trees and oversized plants.

“We’re here,” Kolivan stated as they approached a house.

“Who the heck builds a house in the middle of a jungle?” Lance asked.

Kolivan didn’t answer and instead tapped a certain pattern on the wooden door. Ever so slightly the door creaked open and two sets of blue eyes stared at them. The door opened wider and two small children jumped up to hug Kolivan.

“Uncle Koli!!” The girl said happily.

“Hello, is he home?” Kolivan asked calmly.

The girl shook her head.

“Out for food, back soon though!” She said with a smile before they both hopped down and opened the door up.

“Who?” The small boy asked pointing towards the paladins.

“Don’t worry, they’re safe. He’ll know who they are.”

The boy nodded his head before running off to what looked to be the kitchen.

As soon as everyone was inside the hallway the small girl quickly shut the door and locked it before hanging the key around her neck and pushing Kolivan along into the lounge room. Everything was quite big considering how small it looked from the outside.

Kolivan sat down on a makeshift couch and the small girl hopped up behind him to braid his hair which only made Lance snicker, earning a glare from Kolivan.

“Uncle Koli your hair is super soft like Mama’s! Mama braided my hair last night, it was really pretty too!” The girl said, “I hope I get as good as mama one day.”

Suddenly the boy ran back into the living room with a hairbrush and a few multi coloured hair ties. Placing them next to his sister he pulled himself up onto the couch and sat stilly next to Kolivan with a smile.

The paladins slowly flooded into the lounge room and sat down on the remaining couches in the room.

“For a second there I thought this was your family Kolivan,” Shiro said as he took a seat.

“Oh no, I simply visit sometimes to make sure that they are doing okay,” Kolivan replied.

The paladins looked at him confused.

“So whose family is this then? I mean their parents aren’t here,” Allura said.

“Parent,” Kolivan said.

“Sorry?”  
“Parent. Singular, they were raised by their mother.”

“Oh, I see.”

“So what are their names? I feel bad just saying they and them,” Hunk said.

“I’m sure that you’ll learn them soon,” Kolivan said.

“You’re so mysterious! Why are you so mysterious??” Lance said waving his hands over his face like a mask.

The girl giggled at that and so did the boy, which made Lance smile in return.

“Ta-Da~!” She said happily bringing the small neat little braid towards the front.

“Thank you.”

She then slid down to sit next to her brother on the couch while she stared at Allura.

“Who’re you?” She asked hopping down off the couch and waddling forwards.

“I’m Allura, I’m a princess,” Allura said happily.

“Oh, your hair is pretty,” She said looking at Allura’s hair which was tied in a bun.

“Thank you, do you like princesses?

“Not really, I just like your hair,” The girl said swaying from side to side.

“Mama’s is prettier Am,” The boy whispered but shrunk back when Allura looked at him.

“Okay then, do you have any dolls that you could play with?”

“Nope” The girl said flatly, “They’re boring, I like adventuring in the dirt! Princesses and pretty dolls don’t get to adventure in the dirt! Mama’s stories never have anything boring, there's always lots of cool adventurers, I want to be an adventurer!”

Allura grimaced, “Oh? And why’s that?”

“There’s lots of bugs and butterflies and treasure, and- and sometimes there’s pretty flowers that mama makes into crowns and bracelets and necklaces and then we get to go see Delilah!”

“Is Delilah your child friend?” Allura asked.

“No! Delilah is the destroyer of universe! He’ll could take us all out in one fatal whoosh!!” The girl said spinning around for effect.

The girls gaze shifted towards Shiro and she tilted her head.

“Is your floofy soft?” She asked him with wide eyes.

“Um, I don’t know...Would you like to feel it?” Shiro asked happily.

She nodded quickly and Shiro leaned down so she could play with it.

“It is really soft! Almost as soft as mama’s!” She shouted happily.

The small boy on the couch began to squirm slightly, wriggling as if he was growing restless to see something or someone.

“What about you?” The girl then asked Pidge.

“Is your hair soft?”

Pidge smiled and leaned forward.

“WOOOOW IT’S SOFT TOO!”

Pidge smiled a bit wider.

“Can I play with your fluffy hair?” She asked with puppy eyes.

Pidge nodded and the girl crawled up onto her lap so that she could scrunch Pidge’s hair with concentrating eyes.

“So Kolivan how much longer do you think this person will be?” Allura asked.

“It shouldn’t be too long, he wouldn’t be game to leave them alone for too long in case something happened to them,” Kolivan said with a gesture towards the two children.

‘He?’ Lance thought and his Alpha grunted in response as if saying ‘Yes you idiot’.

The little boy suddenly sat upright, he dropped off the couch and ran out of the room to return a minute or two later with some paper and what seemed to be pencils. He plonked himself down on the carpet and started drawing.

“What are you drawing down there?” Hunk asked.

The little boy kept drawing anyways, unaware of what Hunk had said.

“O-kay then.”

The little girl gasped, which drew everyone's attention towards her.

“Do you like adventuring? You’re wearing green, do you like plants?” She asked Pidge.

Pidge nodded her head.

“Really?! So do I! Me and mama could teach you how to go vine walking later if you want!”

Pidge nodded her head again.

“You’re quiet. Do you like the quiet? Juli likes the quiet too, he doesn’t talk a lot because he gets nervous. Mama says that quiet people are good people because they know how to keep secrets!”

Pidge sat the girl more comfortably on her lap and listened as she babbled on.

“Mama told us what secrets are! They’re like your own little bond with something that you don’t want anyone to find out about! I think that’s what mama said… hmmm.”

“Kolivan, I really don’t think that we can waste this precious time,” Allura said getting annoyed.

“Princess I understand that you expected to see him straight away but he is not here and the children need someone to entertain them until their mother comes back,” Kolivan said calmly.

The room went silent again as the girl had distracted herself by looking at one of the indoor plants in the corner.

“So, how old are these two?” Lance asked.

“We’re both going to be 6 soon!” The girl said.

“Ohh is your mama going to bake you cake?” Lance asked curiously.

“YEAH! Mama said that we could have cake because it’s a really special day for us! Mama said that we’re little miracles and we deserve some nummy chocolate cake!” The girl said.

“Do you like cake?” Pidge asked quietly.

Shocked faces turned to face her, mouths slack and eyes wide. Pidge, the person who had not even formed a full sentence for at least 6 years was suddenly asking a little girl about cake.

“Yeah! I haven’t really had that much cake but I think I like it!” She said smiling up at Pidge.

“Pidge- you just- are- what-” Hunk blabbered.

“She reminds me of Keith. Dark chocolate brown hair and pale skin, you have wide blue eyes and there's green and purple in there too, they’re really pretty. And you have these adorable little freckles over your nose,” Pidge said with a smile and scratchy voice, everyone became silent once more.

“Malli says the same!”

“And whose Malli?”

“Malli is our- ...Uncle Malli, Malli’s our uncle! And Ko-Ko and Lizzy live with him in the Red tribe!”

“Are Ko-Ko? and Lizzy your friends?” Lance asked.

“Mhmm! But they’re older than us. Juli really likes Kona- so they always play together,” She said waving her hands around.

The room went quiet again and Lance watched the girls expression calm down and she hopped off of Pidge’s lap and sat down on the ground with her brother to draw some pictures.

There was a knocking somewhere throughout the house not long after which made the little girl shoot up, she started to quickly walk somewhere. The smaller boy noticed that she was leaving and stood up to follow her, but he came back to grab the picture he had been drawing. There was a lot of giggling and laughing heard before they heard the girl say something.

“Uncle Koli is here and there are these colourful people with him! And the pretty green girl says that I can teach her how to vine walk with mama!”

“Oh is that so?” A new voice said that sent shivers down Lance’s spine.

“Hey Kolivan how’s it going?” The voice shouted.

“I’m doing ordinary,” Kolivan replied relaxing slightly.

“Sounds pretty normal then, I just gotta put some stuff away, I’ll be right with you.”  
“Take your time,” Kolivan replied.

The team still sat on the cramped couch, although Pidge had moved to the side and was now standing next to it. There was a lot of rustling in the kitchen, yet no one came out yet and it was clear to see that Allura was growing very agitated.

“Aw, Juli did you draw that for me? Thanks love it’s beautiful,” The voice said and ‘Juli’ giggled in response.

Footsteps were heard growing closer to the lounge room and Lance could feel his stomach twisting in either anxiety or happiness, he wasn’t sure but as the person grew closer he felt like crying. His alpha was almost screaming to just walk up towards the person before they entered the room but he stayed sitting as still as he could.

The person walked into the room, ducking to get through the door as the girl had sat on their shoulders and and the boy was curled up in their arms. They stopped, frozen as the noticed who was in the room. They gasped as they saw him.

“K-Keith?” Pidge asked shakily.

A much older Keith smiled nervously.

“Uh, hey you guys,” The sweet voice said.  
He gently put the boy down and the girl crawled off his back before Pidge jumped up and gave him a big hug.

“Hey there Pidge,” Keith said softly, hugging her back.

Pidge only hugged him tighter as she started to cry. Keith patted her back softly before she pulled away.

“How the fu-” Pidge started.

“Hey there’s children present!” Keith laughed and Lance felt like he was melting into a puddle.

The little girl started to tug on Keith’s pants.

“This is the pretty girl that said that I can teach her how to vine walk,” She said with a smile.

“Ohh I see, you think she can pull it off?” Keith asked with a playful smirk.

“Yep! She said she likes nature too! I’m sure that they’ll all like her.”

Keith smiled down at the girl and patted her head gently before he looked over to the doorway where the boy stood shyly.

“Juli it’s okay come over here,” Keith said calling the small boy over.

He quickly ran up and hid behind Keith’s legs.

“Julian, Amber this is your aunty Pidge,” Keith said softly with a smile.

“Really? You’re my Aunty! This is great!” Amber said happily.

“Hello,” Julian mumbled into Keith’s pants.

Keith picked Julian up and held him in his arms as he snuggled into Keith’s chest.

“Sorry, he’s a bit shy.”

“Keith, we need to talk about some, well, things,” Allura said seriously.

“Okay then?” Keith said with a frown, sitting down on the couch next to Kolivan.

“Hey Amber, why don’t you go and show Aunty Pidge your shell collection?” Keith said softly.

Amber nodded her head and began to pull Pidge towards her bedroom. Julian curled tighter into Keith’s chest as he began to speak.

“Okay, so what’s happening?”

“Well, we suspect that Lance’s Alpha might have mated to your Alpha accidentally at some point, and his Alpha is having a sort of ‘separation anxiety’ from yours and it's been slowly getting more painful until he is unable to move without being in pain,” Shiro explained, still in shock that he was speaking to Keith.

“I see,” Keith said slowly.

Kolivan glanced down to him, as he was aware of the current situation he was in.

“Despite this, I have devised a strategy,” Allura said with an unwavering tone, “I have asked Coran to build a machine that will severe the bond between the both of you, as Lance has no time to bond with an Omega anyways as we have no space on the castle, the machine will tear out your Alpha so that it will instead stay with Lance and then he shall not need to worry about experiencing pain.”  
Keith was sitting upright, carding his hands through Julian’s hair slowly.

“Ah, that sounds like it will really hurt,” Keith said worriedly.

“Yes, I was not aware of what you had planned,” Kolivan said protectively.

“Yes, well it was a last minute decision that should still work swimmingly,” Allura said with a smile.

Julian began to let out light snores and Keith pulled him up so that he rested his head against Keith’s heart.

“Well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but it won’t work,” Keith said.

“Keith, we need you to cooperate!” Allura shouted, “This is about a bigger matter, you don’t understand the situation that we are currently facing!”  
“No, I do understand everything, Allura. I’m not an idiot and I would prefer if you would refrain from shouting in my home,” Keith said calmly.

“Why must you act like such a child Keith?! We need Lance to form Voltron! What does your life has over his!” She yelled once more.

“Allur-” Hunk began, frightened of Keith’s response but when he looked over to him he seemed a lot calmer than what he should be.

“Look Allura, I understand your current circumstances, but you can’t possibly know what I’ve gone through these last seven years and for most of my life in fact, so I would rather you not hold one persons life over the other when you in fact are not a god, and you do not have that right to determine who dies and who lives just because you hate someone due to their race,” Keith stated although it looked as if he was fighting back tears.

“Excuse me! I have a right because the Garla destroyed my home and killed my fami-”

“No you do not have that right. I’ve heard it all before, you can whip that dead cow all you want but it’s been seven years and you still hate me for part of my heritage? If killing off my race hasn’t subdued that hate by now then I guess it probably never will, but I’ve already lost two families because of difference, I won’t lose a third. And please, do not shout in my house,” Keith said sharply.

Allura looked as if she was about to burst. Keith sighed as he looked down to Julian who wriggled slightly in his sleep.

“Excuse me, I need to take Julian to his room.” And he quickly got up and walked to another room.

Allura quickly turned towards the rest of the team.

“Why did none of you back me up,” She seethed.

“Because he’s right Allura,” Hunk mumbled but Allura ignored him and looked towards Kolivan.

“Why did you even bring us here if you knew he would be against it?” She asked irritated.

“I knew there would be several complications with this, but I had no idea that your plan would be so- inhuman,” Kolivan explained.

“It simply is what is best for the both of them,” Allura stated.

“Princess, you are clearly incorrect, it has already been proven that tearing apart bonds does not end well for either side and usually the weaker ends up quite simply dying, you do understand that.” Kolivan said.

“Of course I do and I am positive that Lance would survive it if Keith was weaker when the operation began,” Allura said with the least insane sounding voice you could use while talking about killing someone.

Kolivan sighed, “It will fail anyway. Keith won’t be able to participate in your experiment.”

Keith suddenly walked back into the room with a tired expression, he sat down next to Kolivan and started speaking once more.

“I’ll do what I can to help, maybe I could form a bond with another Alpha if you really want me to,” Keith said but he obviously didn’t like the idea of that.

“I mean that would help, but why another Alpha?” Shiro asked.

Keith looked at them with wide eyes, then turned to Kolivan before looking back at the paladins that sat on the couch.

“Yo-you mean you still don’t know?” Keith asked skeptically.

Allura rolled her eyes, “No Keith the only thing we currently know is that you refuse to help us!”

Keith frowned angrily, “I literally just said that I would mate to another Alpha if need be which I definitely am not looking for-”

“UNCLE KEITH?! ARE YOU IN THERE? WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP!” A voice shouted from the front door.

Quickly Keith stood up and opened the door.

“God you don’t need my help you need a miracle worker- AMBER, CAN YOU PLEASE GRAB THE MEDICAL KIT?” Keith hurriedly said as two new guests entered the lounge room.

Keith and a tall tanned girl with black hair helped a boy sit down on the couch, his clothes were ripped and bloodied, there was blood dripping from his nose as well as from a cut on his forehead. The paladins stared in shock, most of them gasping with wide eyes at the boys poor figure.

“Sorry for the intrusion,” The boy said with a tired laugh and a joking smirk.

“Jesus Kona don’t start being polite it’s scaring me,” keith said before looking towards the girl who was standing behind him.

“How?” Keith gestured.

“A rogue beast attacked him so he provoked it and they got into a bloody fight,” The girl said with a disgusted expression and rubbing her temple tiredly.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah- like do you need supplies? We have some on the ship-” Hunk rambled.

Keith just shook his head, “No, no, it’s alright. Not as if he hasn’t done stupid shit like this before.”

The team continued to look on at how Keith took care of the situation, Lance was getting a strange feeling of pride and he had no clue why. Maybe it’s because Keith had been standing up to anyone and everyone today and wouldn’t take shit from no one. Lance knew he could never be as strong as Keith. Keith was such a kind and caring person and he had never remembered it before on the ship.

Something had changed in him and it made Lance want him more.

“God Lizzia how do you live with him?” Keith asked as he ripped the torn fabric off Kona’s body to reveal bruises and large gashes which made Hunk wince.

“I have da medisin kit M- LIZZY!” Amber said rushing into the room.

“Thanks sweetheart,” Keith said before opening it with his bloody hands and pulling out wipes and antibacterial ointments.

“Hey Amber, why don’t we go and play, Kona was being silly and got hurt again,” Lizzia said with a now relieved sigh.

“Will Ko-Ko be all right?” She asked with a tilt of her head.

Lizzia’s breathe hitched, “Yeah. Yeah he’ll be fine.”

Amber pulled the girl off to her room, Pidge had come out with a wide smile that quickly turned into a worried frown.

“What happened while I was gone?” She asked suddenly.

Keith was murmuring stuff to Kona about being an idiot before Kona made a smart remark and Keith slapped the back of his head.

“He should be fine in a bit,” Keith explained slowly wrapping the bandages around his midsection tightly.

“Um, I’m not sure I understand the current problem,” Allura said with a confused gaze.

Keith ignored her and instead flitted off, coming back seconds later with what looked to be a fluffy blanket and tucking it under the boys chin.

“I know you heal quickly, but you shouldn’t go picking fights with the rogue beasts,” Keith said ruffling his hair gently.

“It attacked first!” Kona whined.

“Yeah, yeah that’s what they all say. Now go to sleep.”

“Fine meanie,” Kona said attempting to roll over but groaning in pain and decided to stay still.

Not even a minute later Kona was out like a light and snoring softly against the warm blanket.

Lance had a throbbing headache after this whole ordeal, even though he had done absolutely nothing to help the poor boy or Keith, who did an amazing job at helping him. Keith slumped down with a sigh rubbing his temples and then packing up the medical kit before sitting up straight and looking at the paladins.

“Oh yeah, this is Kona and the girl from before, that’s Lizzia. They’re both 15 and they’ll probably be with us for a while,” Keith said grabbing the medical kit.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘us’,” Hunk asked.

Keith walked out of the room to put away the medical kit and walked back into the room to sit on the arm of the couch next to Kona.

“I’m taking it that at least one of you got stuck in the magnetic circles pull?” Keith asked calmly while massaging his temples.

“Yeah, Hunk and Lance both got Yellow and Red stuck,” Shiro said.

Keith looked up from massaging his head to meet Lance’s tired eyes.

“Oh so you’re piloting Red now?” Keith asked.

Lance only nodded, deciding not to trust his voice. But then again, he hadn’t really trusted himself since Keith left, it was the fake facade that he put on that made him seem happier and full of energy, but when he was around Keith for some reason he didn’t find the need to be fake and overly hyper like he had been for the past month. In truth he was tired, he just really wanted a good sleep and a bit of time to relax before he snapped.

Keith smiled and Lance could feel Cupid’s arrow strike right through his heart once more.

Keith let out a deep sigh, pushing back off the ground and staring at the ceiling while he let out a breath. Before he looked back to them all and offered a small smile.

“The magnetic pull only loosens a bit every month, but your lucky that you decided to come around this time, it’s only a few days away. So you’ll have to stay here while you wait to get the lions back,” He explained.

“Can we not simply fly out of the pull?” Allura asked skeptically.

“No, it’s a magnetic pull, it’s too strong right now,” Keith said, if you looked close enough you could see his unsureness talking with her.

“So we’ll be staying with you?” Hunk asked.

“I mean, unless you want to sleep out in the jungle,” Keith joked and as if on cue wild animal roared.

Hunk jumped up, “No, here’s good.”

Keith laughed. “Okay then. Well, I think we can sort out the beds quite easily,” He began, “Kona already claimed this couch and I assume Lizzia and the twins will take up one bed. So that leaves those two couches, my bed, the two spare beds and Julian’s bed that he never uses.”

Everyone looked around at one another.

“So we’ll have to bunk up?” Pidge asked.

“Yeah, well unless you’d rather the out-”

“Nope we’re good!” Hunk yelped, still spooked by the the roar he heard earlier.

“I don’t think I shall be sleeping tonight,” Kolivan said, “You all have beds then.”

“Okay then that means that we just have to sort out who gets what,” Shiro said.

Keith took this opportunity to leave the room, he checked in on Lizzia, Julian and Amber who were all asleep on Amber’s bed. Keith smiled as he blew out the flame that provided the room with light and closed the door gently. He then continued to the kitchen where he opened the makeshift fridge to grab some ingredients for their dinner, placing them all on the kitchen’s bench he tied his hair up.

He had a lot of people he was about to cook for, and like hell he wasn’t going to give them enough until the were bulging at the eyes. He knew that there was some more food hidden away in the crevices of the fridge somewhere, that he had crammed in the few nights before in a quick hurry to get going and do a quick patrol of the area as well as visit a native tribe.

“Uh, Keith?” A quiet voice asked.

Keith turned around to see Lance standing behind him with a nervous look.

“Hey Lance, long time no see huh?” Keith said, but he would be lying if he said his heart wasn’t beating twice as fast when he looked at Lance.

“I just-,” He stopped to take in a deep breath, “I’m so so sorry Keith.”

At there they were, the string of words that Keith had waited a lifetime to hear, but never thought he would, were coming out of his mouth, of Lance’s mouth.

“Lance,”

“No, It’s my fault. All of this is my fault and- god I’m so fucking sorry Keith, I did this to you. I’m the reason you ended up out here. If only I just didn’t say any of that shit I said when I was younger when I just ran my mouth, I said the dumbest shit and lost the most important person to me,” Lance said with a pained expression, tears slipping down his tan cheeks.

“Lance,” Keith said once more, his tone softer than ever.

“I’m sorry Keith, I don’t know why I said those things or why I pushed you away then- I still don’t know why I did it. Maybe I was scared, but there was nothing to be scared of and I- I’m just so sorry Keith, I’m so so sorry.”

Keith took Lance’s hand in his own and squeezed it, Lance melted into the touch and began to wipe the tears from his eyes.

“Lance it’s okay, the past is in the past and I forgive you,” Keith said with a small smile.

Lance looked at him with wide eyes, “No you can’t just forgive me that easily after what I did to you.”

“Well too bad, It’s my choice and I’m forgiving you,” Keith said, but was still greeted with Lance’s crying face, “Lance, look at me.”

Lance looked at Keith as the tears continued to fall, he took in Keith’s pale skin, his feminine face and body, the long black hair that had once been a mullet was instead tied up into a ponytail. He was still as beautiful as Lance could remember and that only made Lance want to cry more.

“Look Lance, I’m still here standing and accepting your apology, so you should take it before you guys disappear again,” Keith said softly, “You might not see me again for a long time if you do ever see me again.”

Lance’s heart clenched at the thought of never seeing Keith again.

“Okay, although I hope that never happens,” Lance said quietly.

Keith smiled before spinning around to grab a cloth and wet it with the cold water that flowed from the tap.

“You really have changed a lot,” Lance said, leaning back against the wall.

“Mm, guess that’s what seven years in the jungle with twins does to you.”  
Keith spun back around and held out the now wet cloth to Lance, he stared at it confused before Keith sighed and smiled.

“You have a headache don’t you?” Keith asked.

Lance was surprised, he’d actually forgotten about having his headache when he talked to Keith but now he could suddenly feel it coming back to life and gnawing at his skull.

“Thanks,” He mumbled grabbing it and placing it over his eyes.

“Hey, I was actually wondering. How exactly are Julian and Amber related to you? I mean, they seem to talk a lot about their mom and how she’s always doing stuff with them, but we haven’t seen her yet. Is she okay?” Lance asked curiously as he used the cloth to wipe away his dried tears.

“Ah, I don’t really think I can answer that question right now,” Keith said nervously.

Lance peeked out from underneath the cloth to see Keith cutting up strange vegetables. “Okay then, that’s fine.”

Keith let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey do you want some help?” Lance asked.

Keith looked around at all the food he had to feed an army, “Yeah, that’d be great actually.”

Lance smiled as he grabbed a knife and began to start cutting up vegetables, at least he thinks they were vegetables.

Not long after this, Pidge and Hunk walked into the kitchen talking to one another like they hadn’t seen each other in years- which technically was true. Everyone’s relationships had deteriorated for some reason after Keith left. Lance no longer had someone to train and fight with so that brought down everything he had built up and he no longer wanted to hang out with Pidge and Hunk. Pidge and Hunk both saw the change in their friend and wanted to help, but without his joyful attitude they started to realise how much he kept their group of three together. Everyone started to drift away from each other and soon they started taking on missions alone. Being back with Keith made Pidge and Hunk realised that he was a glue of sorts that not only kept Lance together, but most of the team. It made sense why Lance’s Alpha had bonded to Keith after seeing this.

Keith was glad that everyone seemed to be happy, he’d probably missed so much over the past seven years, but he was happy that he could see everyone again. It had been so long since he had seen his family of friends and he intended to make the most of the short time he had with them.


	3. Chapter 3

  
“What are you guys up to?” Pidge said hopping onto a stool at the bench.  
  
“Cutting...Vegetables?” Lance said skeptically.  
  
“Yes Lance, you are cutting vegetables,” Keith said with a giggle.  
  
“Well I wasn’t sure,” Lance said with a wide smile.  
  
Hunk took a seat next to Pidge and they both smiled at Keith and Lance.  
  
“So,” Keith started, “What’s been happening these past seven years? What did I miss?”  
  
“Lance crying,” Pidge and Hunk said in unison and then laughed at Lance’s red face.  
  
“Heyy!” Lance yelled.  
  
“But believe me Keith, you would’ve loved to see the emo faze he went through! It was worse than your whole theme,” Pidge cackled wildly.  
  
“An emo phase?” Keith questioned with a laugh, “Damn Lance, what made you so depressed?”  
  
Lance’s face turned a deeper red and his ears were dusted in pink.  
  
“It’s coz you left Keith~” Pidge teased.  
  
Keith laughed and then looked over to Lance. “Wait you’re serious?!”  
  
Lance nodded.  
  
“He even changed rooms to sleep in yours!” Pidge said and Lance somehow started blushing more than before, “He missed you a lot. But then again I guess we all did.”  
  
Keith looked back to Pidge who was looking down at the bench with a sad smile.  
  
“Well hey, you guys are here now, so let’s make the best of it while it lasts,” Keith said with a smile.  
  
They all smiled back at him and nodded before Lance and Keith got back to cutting some vegetables. Keith suddenly felt something tug on his leg, starting him and letting the knife slip and slice his thumb with a yelp. He dropped the knife quickly and put his thumb in his mouth.  
  
“Did you cut yourself?” Lance asked worriedly.  
  
“Yeah, itsh all good dough,” Keith mumbled with his thumb still in his mouth.  
  
They all heard a sad whimper and Keith looked down to find Julian with teary eyes, Keith instantly went into ‘protective mama’ mode and ducked down to pick him up.  
  
“Hey love it’s okay, you just spooked me a bit,” Keith reassured him.  
  
“Hurt?” Julian asked sadly.  
  
Keith sighed, “It hurts a little but it’s okay.”  
  
“Ban- aid?”  
  
“Yeah, I’ll go put on a bandaid,” Keith said but was now unsure whether to put Julian down or not, until Lance held up his arms.  
  
“Here,” Lance said with a small smile but more concern that Keith get that bandaid.  
  
Keith let Julian slip out of his own arms and into Lance’s warm arms. He watched as both of them tensed at first, but Julian soon curled up into Lance’s neck and hugged him. Lance just opened his mouth wide and mouthed ‘What the fuck?!’. Keith gave him a frown with tilted head.  
  
“It’s so soft~!” Lance whispered and snuggled into Julian’s hair.  
  
Keith looked on with a sad smile and his wandering eyes met with Pidges who gave him a similar look before she mouthed ‘We’re so talking after this’.  
Keith found a bandaid and wrapped it around his finger securely before going back to putting the vegetables on to boil while Lance became distracted playing with Julian. The group walked back into the lounge room to see Kona still asleep, snoring loudly on the couch and Kolivan sitting on one of the couches with his eyes closed. Keith stepped carefully towards Kona and dropped the blanket off of him to check his wounds. He lifted the bandage to find nothing but a long thin scratch instead of large gashes and bruises.  
  
Keith let out a sigh of relief before shoving the end of the blanket into Kona’s mouth. Kona started coughing and spat the blanket out of his mouth, he looked up at Keith with a smirk.  
  
“Well hello beautiful~” He purred, “Have you come to heaven as well or were you already an angel?”  
  
Keith groaned and rolled his eyes, “Glad to see your back to normal.”  
  
“Aw c’mon, admit that you missed me~”  
  
“Yeah, it was kinda unnerving how polite you were being,” Keith said.

  
Lance grew uneasy behind Keith while Kona made a face that could only be described as ‘:3’, before looking over to the other paladins in the room.  
“Damn Keith did you suddenly get friends?” Kona asked curiously.  
  
“Why you little-” Keith tackled him to the ground scruffing up his hair while they both laughed.  
  
“I’m guessing that the ass is awake?” Lizzia said coming out of the room.  
  
“Yeah, I mean he’s acting normal at least,” Keith said grinning, before standing up, “Is Amber awake?”  
  
“I think she’s getting up now,” Lizzia said and Keith was already walking into the bedroom to pick her up.  
  
He walked out holding a weary eyed Amber who curled up tighter in his arms, Julian saw his sister and instinctively made grabby hands towards the both of them.  
  
Lance put down Julian and Keith put down Amber and they ran off to play with each other.  
  
“Dinner’s going to be ready soon, mind helping me set up?” Keith asked Lizzia.  
  
She nodded and they walked into the kitchen to set up the plates and cutlery, as well as grab more chairs. In total they were going to have more than 10 people at their small table, it was going to get very cramped. Keith was more surprised that he had enough food from the market to feed them all, it was amazing what secrets the fridge held.  
  
Pulling out different breads, dips, a butter like spread and some meat that was eaten cold he placed it around the table. A loud ping indicated that the vegetables and cooked meat were done in the...oven. Yes, it was an oven no matter how much it screamed it wasn’t.  
  
He quickly took them out and placed it on a board and then onto the table, the whole setup looked like a banquet and he was sort of proud that he managed to pull it off out of thin air.  
  
There was at least 4 different kinds of edible meat, 10 different kinds of vegetables in all different forms, 3 colorful dips that he had been given from the neighboring tribe and a whole other lot of stuff that he wasn’t really even sure he had, but then again with all the stuff he would hall from helping out the areas tribes it shouldn’t surprise him as much as it did.  
  
He took a deep breathe.  
  
“Dinner’s ready!” He yelled, before ducking into the back room to find Amber and Julian.  
  
The two of them sat on one of Keith’s blankets on the ground with a large book open in front of them, Amber was holding her brother’s ears and when she saw Keith her eyes shimmered as if she was about to cry.  
  
“Mama, Juli’s ears hurt,” She said and Keith quickly hurried over to them.  
  
“Juli? Sweety, can you open your eyes for mommy?” Keith asked gently.  
  
Julian opened his eyes and they shone from the sun that was setting in the distance, he latched onto Keith breathing heavily and crying.  
  
“Amber, dinner’s ready so go and sit with Aunty Pidge and Lizzia, tell them I’m busy but that we’ll join everyone soon okay?” Keith said while rubbing her tear stained cheeks, “You’re such a good girl Amber, and your a great sister.”  
  
She nodded her head slowly, “Okay Mama.”  
  
She raced out of the room and Keith heard everyone chatting while they ate their dinner. Keith smiled and held Julian closer to his chest to calm him down.  
  
“Juli, can you tell mommy what you heard? Your ears wouldn’t hurt unless you were trying to listen to someone,” Keith said softly, twirling Julian’s curly dark hair in his fingers.  
  
“They’re going to hurt mama,” Julian sniffed.  
  
“Who’s they love?”  
  
“The scary princess, she’s going to hurt you mama,” Julian mumbled.  
  
“It’s okay, I promise I’m not going to get hurt and I’ll always be here to protect you,” Keith started peppering his face with butterfly kisses.  
  
“Mama stop! That tickles!” Julian giggled and Keith laughed as well.  
  
“Knock knock,” A voice said and Keith looked up to see Pidge holding onto Amber’s hand.  
  
“Hey Pidge,” Keith said in response.  
  
“Is Julian feeling okay?” She asked, coming to sit down with them.  
  
Keith nodded his head slowly looking down at the bundle of adorableness against his chest.  
  
“Yeah, he just heard some stuff he didn’t want to.”  
  
Pidge hummed in reply and Amber began to draw some pictures.  
  
“Hey Keith?” Pidge said quietly.  
  
“Mmm?”  
  
“You’re an Omega, aren’t you,” She said as if she was still unsure.  
  
“Yeah, I am,” He said with a chuckle, scratching the back of his neck.  
  
“I’ve kind of had my suspicions for a while now, but I don’t understand how?” Pidge said with a gentle smile.  
  
“Ah, male Garlan’s are able to be Omegas,” Keith explained, “And I had no clue if I was one until my first heat seven years ago.”  
  
“Seven years ago?” She mumbled, “So, one of the reasons you left-”  
  
“Yeah, it’s cause I was pregnant with these two,” Keith said, “I was scared how everyone would react about me being Galra, then about me being an Omega and then about me being pregnant and so, I was a selfish coward and I ran away.”  
  
“Keith, you weren’t a coward or selfish, you knew that it was too dangerous for you and your kids to be there so you did what any responsible parent would do- no any sane human would do and get the fu-,” Keith gave her a look, “-dge, fudge out of there.”  
  
“Yeah, but I just kind of up and left without knowing anything about being pregnant or how to take care of one baby, let alone two. I’m just glad that I chose this planet with friendly and advanced inhabitants.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess luck was on your side for that,” Pidge giggled and Keith gave her a smile before her expression turned into a frown.  
  
“Wait a second, seven years ago...then who’s the dad?” She asked quieter than before.  
  
Keith blushed a little.  
  
“I-uh, I-” Keith mumbled.  
  
“Oh my god, it’s Lance isn’t it- you did the do with Lance,” She whisper screamed.  
  
Keith nodded before blushing harder.  
  
“Oh my fu-dging god, he’s a complete idiot. You guys had, y’know, and that would already be enough for his Alpha to bond to you but on top of that you were pregnant and had kids! There’s no wonder why his Alpha’s been getting so depressed lately if it hasn’t seen you or your kids for seven years,” Pidge stated pinching the bridge of her nose and then let out a laugh.  
  
“I guess that there’s a lot of dense people, I’ll wonder Allura will realise and stop pestering me.”  
  
Pidge looked at him and he felt his stomach drop.  
  
“Oh god, you don’t know?” He asked her.  
  
“What did she do Keith,” Pidge asked sternly.  
  
“They- ah, they want to rip the ‘Alpha’ out of me so that Lance can keep fighting with Voltron and all that, when I told her it wouldn’t work she insisted that I cooperate but I guess that her not understand that they literally are unable to rip out something that isn’t there is kinda impossible.”  
  
Pidge glared at nothing in particular, “That bitch!”  
  
Amber gasped and sat up from her drawing, “Mama! Aunty Pidge said a bad word!”  
  
“Yes, Aunty Pidge shouldn’t be saying bad words,” Keith said with a laugh.  
  
Pidge pouted before continuing to listen to Keith while Amber went back to her humming while she drew.  
  
“And it really wouldn’t work if they knew I was an Omega anyway,” Keith said with a sigh, “Seven years really does change a person and me and my Omega are pretty much the same soul now, so they’d just be intentionally ripping out my soul and killing me.”  
  
Julian jumped at the word ‘killing’ and Keith quickly apologised and hushed him, reminding him that nothing bad was going to happen.  
  
“So you’re like,” She paused getting into a meditating position, “One with yourself and all that stuff?”  
  
“Yep pretty much. I’m kinda luckier than a lot of Omegas too, I only get my heat once every 6 months on the dot and it only lasts roughly 3 days. So I’m not out of commission for too long, and because I live out here there won’t be any Alpha’s that can attack me, the inhabitants that took me in made sure of it.”  
Pidge smiled slowly.  
  
“You seem really, I don’t know- Grown up now Keith. You’ve got two adorable kids and a nice little house in the middle of a pretty wicked cool jungle. Feels like you’ve got everything sorted out.”  
  
“Yeah. But it does get sorta lonely, y’know? I mean, Kona and Lizzia come and play with the twins and stay over every once in a while and I go visit the markets and other tribes every once in a while as well, but I just don’t think this could ever really be my home. The kids have only ever known this planet, so I know they wouldn’t know that feeling but sometimes I would think of you guys and wonder if you made it back to Earth and if you were all happy with your families,” Keith said sadly.  
  
“Keith,” Pidge said and wrapped him in a hug.  
  
Keith took in a shaky breath, “It’s okay, you guys are here now and I get to catch up.”  
  
Pidge mumbled a soft ‘mhmm’ into his shoulder before she pulled back, Amber was giving them a confused look.  
  
“Keith, let’s go get something to eat, Amber kind of just came up and mumbled a bunch of stuff in my ear before I could even think about diving in,” She giggled.  
  
“Okay then, Juli we’re gonna go have some dinner now, come on Amber you too,” Keith said to them both as he got up and they all walked back into the kitchen to see what looked to be a silent war.  
  
“You’re taking this too far Allura,” Lance said halfway out of his chair as he put a hand in front of Kona.  
  
Allura only glared daggers at the both of them and Kona’s skin turned a deep green as she did.  
  
“Kona, hey calm down what’s going on here?” Keith asked as he let a hand rest on the 15 year olds head.  
  
Kona mumbled a few incoherent sentences and let a snake like tongue slip through his lips as he hissed at Allura.  
  
“I’ll ask again. What happened?” Keith said sternly.  
  
The table was quiet and he felt Amber grip onto his leg tightly.  
  
“Nothing. We were simply chatting and a topic came up that the boy did not agree on,” Allura stated simply as if she were unfazed.  
  
“You fucking bitch!” Kona yelled as he lunged forward but Lance held him back securely.  
  
Keith gazed down to Lizzia who looked like she was about to have a panic attack and her eyes were wide as she stared at her empty plate, like she was reliving something horrifying. She started to shake and her skin gradually began to change into a purple tint.  
  
“Kona I need you to calm down, Lizzia needs you to take her out the room now,” Keith said as calmly as he could.  
  
Kona pulled his attention away from Allura to look at Lizzia’s current state and quickly picked her up and took her to Julian and Amber’s room.  
  
“Amber, Julian I need you to go with them okay? Make sure Lizzy’s okay?” Keith said gently and let Julian onto the ground.  
  
They both nodded and scurried off to the room.  
  
Now with the smaller children out of the room he could focus on the problem at hand.  
  
“Allura, what did you say to them.”  
  
He stared down at Allura who stood up in an attempt to show her dominance, a thing most Alpha’s did.  
  
“I simply discussed the fact of you not being around much longer,” Her voice sounded toxic and made Keith’s stomach turn in disgust.  
  
“Judging from their reactions I’m guessing that you said more than just that,” Keith growled.  
  
“I may have mentioned the fact that any Galran deserved that fate,” She said, her eyes glinting and her voice sounding as though she had just thrown poison at him.  
  
“Allura, you can insult me however you like. But you better think twice before doing it in front of my family you bitch,” Keith said with another growl.  
  
“I can do what I wish!”  
  
“No Allura, you can’t do whatever the fuck you want. You’re not in your castle where you can order everyone around and if your going to continue to act like this then you can get the fuck out of my house,” He caught his breath and walked away from the table to check on the kids.  
  
He opened the door to see Kona attempting to calm Lizzia down, his appearance had returned to normal and he was trying to speak to her. Lizzia’s skin on the other hand had turned fully purple and she had taken on the appearance of a full Galra. Keith walked towards them and sat down next to Lizzia before pulling her into a protective hug. He let out a calming scent and the room instantly felt less tense, he let himself change into his Galra form to comfort Lizzia as best he could.  
  
He smoothed down her black hair and let his tail wrap around her hands reassuringly.  
  
“Lizzia it’s okay, remember where you are right now. You’re safe and you don’t have to worry about anything, we’re going to protect you okay?” Keith said rubbing her arm carefully.  
  
She took in a deep, shaky breath and nodded slightly, before Kona joined in the hug, then Amber and then Julian. They all sat on Amber’s bed in a giant hug pile until Julian and Amber fell asleep. Lizzia and Kona moved so that Keith could tuck them in carefully. Pidge peeked through the door a couple of hours later and brought them a plate full of leftover food and told Keith not to worry about cleaning up because they had already done it for him. Lizzia and Kona ended up sharing the bed with Julian and Amber as they were too tired to move out onto the couch, and Pidge fell asleep on Julian’s bed not long after that. Keith stayed awake however.  
  
He stared out the dirty window daydreaming, or more just thinking. He was wondering what would have happened if he decided to stay on the castle and raise his children there, would he even have children? Would they still be alive?  
  
Keith shook his head and stood up, walking out of the room to clear his head. He walked through the lounge room where he saw Shiro and Hunk sleeping on the two couches with handmade quilts thrown over their tired bodies. He moved into the kitchen to grab a glass of water when he ran into someone, whacking his nose fair into their chest.  
  
“Shit, I’m sorry Keith are you okay?” Lance asked.  
  
“Yeah, Sorry I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Keith said rubbing his nose.  
  
Lance was staring at his head and Keith gave him a questioning look before he remembered his Galra appearance.  
  
“Oh god I’m sorry, I’ll change back,” Keith said hurriedly but Lance grabbed his hand.  
  
“Hey no, you shouldn’t have to hide yourself, it’s fine I don’t care what you look like,” Lance said with a smile before looking back to Keith’s ears.  
  
Keith let out a sigh, “Go on then.”  
  
Lance started scratching the back of Keith’s fluffy ears and even though Keith was expecting it the sudden rush still surprised him and he began to purr.  
  
He whipped his hand over his mouth and stared at Lance with eyes as wide as saucers and Keith mirrored him.  
  
“Did you just- Oh my god you just-”  
  
“Shut up McClain,” Keith mumbled through his hand.  
  
“It was really cute,” Lance said anyway.  
  
Keith started to blush and hid his face in his hands.  
  
“Goddammit Lance,” He whispered to himself but Lance heard anyway.  
  
“Aww are you embarrassed?” He said wiggling his eyebrow.  
  
“I’m just here to get some water,” Keith said as he moved towards the sink.  
  
Lance sat up on the bench next to him with a soft look.  
  
“Can’t sleep?” He asked.  
  
Keith sighed, “Not like it’s anything knew.”  
  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lance asked slightly concerned.  
  
“I’ve had insomnia since I was back at the Garrison, I used to study to take my mind off it. At the castle too, I would train for hours on end because I couldn’t sleep.”  
  
“Oh yeah, I may have watched you a few times,” Lance mumbled.  
  
“Really?” Keith said with a blush.  
  
Lance nodded his head and Keith turned on the tap and filled up his glass.  
  
“Well, nowadays I read books instead of doing all that, it’s much...nicer. A lot lot nicer actually, but I don’t really feel in the mood for a book right now.”  
  
“Allura getting to ya?” Lance asked sadly.  
  
“Well, yeah, she kind of is, after she to pretty much threatened to kill me and then decided to ruin our chance of a peaceful dinner,” Keith sighed.  
  
“Wait- she threatened to kill you? What the fuck?! When did this happen?” Lance said with wide eyes.  
  
“Haha, you were literally sitting on the couch Lance and you were at the table, very fu-” Keith turned his gaze to Lance who looked as if he was about to throw up, “Hey, you okay?”  
  
“I- I must’ve zoned out when she was saying all that, I’ve been doing that a lot lately- god Keith I’m sorry,” Lance said.  
  
“It’s okay-”  
  
“Keith she was threatening to kill you! That’s not okay! And I’m sorry that I was so lost in my own little world so I couldn’t help you,” Lance pushed his hand through his hair.  
  
“Hey you shouldn’t have to apologise for Allura’s shallow threats,” Keith said with a reassuring smile.  
  
‘They’re probably not that shallow.’ Lance thought to himself.  
  
“Soooo. What are you doing up then McClain?” Keith asked as he began to sip his water.  
  
“Couldn’t sleep. I was too busy thinking.”  
  
“Hmm, what about?” Keith said as he hopped up on the bench across from Lance.  
  
“Just, stuff I guess. I’ve been so drained lately that you’d think I’d be lights out when I hit the pillow, but apparently not,” Lance let out a strained laugh which was followed with a sigh.  
  
“I’m kinda just wondering when I’ll get to go home to see my family, they don’t expect us to spend our whole lives out here do they? I think I’ll go insane before that happens. I really miss them all, my brothers and my sisters, my nieces and nephews, my mom and my dad. I hope that all this ends soon, I want to go back home.”  
  
Keith felt his heart clench at the sound of Lance’s scratchy voice, as if he was attempting not to cry.  
  
“Lance,”  
  
“But you know, my Alpha’s telling me to protect you and your family right now, and that’s much better than worrying about the future, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” He said with a smile that made Keith want to die.  
  
Jumping down from the bench Keith put his now empty cup in the sink and looked over to Lance.  
  
“C’mon, you better get to bed. It’s going to be hot tomorrow so that means walking,” Keith said before pulling him down.  
  
“Walking? Why are we walking if it's hot?” He whined.  
  
Keith gave him a big smile, “It’ll be a surprise, that’s something to look forward to. So get your but into bed!”  
  
Keith pushed Lance along and got that familiar electric sensation that ran through his fingers and settled in his stomach. Every time he and Lance had touched he had felt it, even if their hands simply brushed he would get the tingling rush. They got to the kitchen doorway and Lance turned around to envelope Keith in a heartfelt hug.  
  
“Night Keith.”  
  
“...Night Lance,” Keith responded, hugging the slightly taller boy with warm arms.  
  
They broke off and smiled at each other before Keith returned to the disaster that was a bedroom.  
  
He sighed before curling up around Julian and Amber in a protective manner before drifting into a dream like state


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where they don't actually go to the beach but Cove day doesn't sound as nice as Beach day.

“Mommy~” Julian whispered in Keith’s ear.

“Yes sweety~?” Keith hummed but kept his eyes closed.

Julian and Amber giggled which made Keith smile.

“Mama open your eyes,” Amber said with another giggle.

Keith pried open his eyes to meet with Julian sitting on his chest and Amber sitting above his head.

“Well good morning you two, are you hungry?” Keith asked with a yawn.

“Mhmm, I’m reaaaally hungy!” Julian said.

“Okay love, let’s go make some pancakes.”  
Julian and Amber sprung off the bed and ran out the door as quietly as they could. Keith pulled the blankets up over Lizzia and Kona, one was snoring and the other was drooling, while Pidge stirred in her bed but flipped over and continued to sleep. Keith walked through the door silently, noticing how Shiro and Hunk were still out to it on the couches. He walked into the kitchen and then sat the twins up on the bench so they could watch him make the batter.

While Keith mixed the ingredients into a large bowl he felt a something fall against his back, peeking over his shoulder he found that it was Pidge.

“Mornin’ Pidge,” He said with a cheery smile.

She mumbled something into Keith’s clothes before bringing her head up.

“How are you so awake,” She groaned.

“Pidge, have I told you about the miracle of children? If not let me introduce you to my good pal coffee.”

“ **_Do_ ** you have coffee?”

“Of course Pidge, I wouldn’t be alive most days without it, but for some reason I’ve got a lot of energy today,” Keith said with a confused smile.

“Maybe your just used to waking up early now?” Pidge said as she searched for the coffee.

“I don’t think so- the coffee is over near the knives,” He said directing Pidge.

“Thanks,” Pidge grumbled.

Pidge come over a few minutes later and settled with filling the coffee cup with boiling hot water from the tap, staring at Keith as she took as sip and tears fell down her straight face. Keith was instantly concerned.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked slowly.

“This coffee is quiznacking terrible,” She said slowly.

“There is a coffee pot next to the coffee Pidge.”

“I’m too tired to do all that!”  
  
“Fine,” Keith groaned.  
  
While Keith made the coffee another member decided to join the ‘up before they should be’ club, and this member happened to be Lance.

“Morning,” He said with a tired yawn and a stretch.

His shirt raised slightly, Keith got a glimpse of his flat stomach before he started blushing and passing Pidge her coffee. He went back to making the pancake batter, grabbing out a frying pan and placing it on the stove before he got a match and light the flame. Some of the batter was poured in before another two tired yawns echoed around the room.

Keith turned around and smiled.

“Well good morning lovebirds, what are you doing so up so early?”

Kona blushed at the name while Lizzia just smacked her lips tiredly, she was obviously still half asleep.

“What time is it?” She mumbled.

“Too early for you to be up kiddo, make Kona take you back to bed,” Keith said with a big smile, “I’ll save you both some pancakes.”

“Okayyy...Kona catch me~,” Lizzia said as she fell forward.

Kona dived and caught her before breathing in a deep breath and taking her back to the room.

“Ah young love,” Keith said with a happy sigh before snapping out of his sudden mood, “Wow what the heck was that, I sounded like an 50 year old woman.”

“Too coffee, not enough early,” Pidge said while she face planted on the bench and Keith laughed along with Lance.

Julian tugged on Keith’s top.

“Yes?”

“What’s young love?” he asked quietly.

“Well~,” Keith rested his chin on his arm and leaned onto one foot, while his arms leaned against the bench, “I might be a bit hard to explain.”

“Is it like how I love mama?” Amber asked with a smile.

“Kind of, except not really. Young love is something you use when kids like each other so much that it’s distracting. Sometimes it’s their first love which makes it special and others it could be their 5th or 6th, it doesn’t make a difference as long as you love the person though. But it’s a term you use when you love someone,” Keith said gently.

“Did you have young love?” Amber asked again.

“Hmm, that’s a tough one. I love you two, but that’s in a different way,” Keith said with a smile, “Yes, I probably had some young love when I was a teenager.”

Julian giggled and Amber followed.

“You promise me that when you find someone you love to the moon and back that you’ll take good care of them, okay? You treat them like a Prince or Princess and like they deserve the world.”

“Okay!” Amber shouted and Julian nodded with a dopey smile on his face.

Keith smiled as he went back to the pancakes, flipping them over and taking them out a few minutes later then replacing them with some more batter and repeating the process. Slowly a plate began to pile up tall enough to be around half of the twins height, which was quite tall when they reached Keith’s waist.

“You want some too Lance?” Keith hummed as he filled up a plate for Julian.

Keith turned around to see Lance blushing.

“Lance?”

“I- uh, y-yeah sure,” He choked out.

“You okay?” Keith asked concerned.

“Yeah I just got distracted.”

“What, looking at me?” Keith joked but stopped when Lance put his red face into his hand.

“Oh my go-”

“You’re hip swaying is very distracting, I’m sorry,” He said quickly into his hands.

Keith started blushing at Lance’s words.

“Ohh so that’s what young love is,” Amber said from the bench.

“Okay missy we’re going to get some pancakes into you before you start saying anything else!” Keith said as he picked her up superman style and she flew to her seat at the table, then went back to grab Julian and the plates of pancakes.

“Here you go Lance,” Keith said as he sat down and handing him his plate.

Keith had Julian on one leg and Amber on the other, sort of making it impossible for him to eat any food.

“You’re not going to eat?” Lance asked with a frown.

“No, I don’t most mornings. Can’t really when they prefer to sit in my lap.”

“That’s not good Keith, you should eat. Here, does one of you wanna come around here so Keith can eat too?” Lance asked Amber and Julian.

Amber simply pushed her plate towards Lance and she slipped off Keith’s leg and disappeared under the table before popping up next to Lance with a toothy grin which he returned.

“Tada!” She yelped as she appeared above the table and Julian started in awe and started clapping.

Pidge came and joined them, sitting down next to Keith with a plate full of her own pancakes. She took a bite and her eyes light up.

“Wow Keith! When’d you get so good at cooking?!”

“Well I was living on my own for most of my life, you learn a lot of things to survive,” Keith said with a wide grin as he watched her continue to scoff down the food.

Keith turned back to Lance.

“That reminds me, where did Kolivan disappear to? I’m sure I saw him before dinner but I didn’t notice him eating anything.”

“Oh yeah, he said something about going on patrol? And we found him a bit later in the spare bed, guess he really was tired,” Lance said with a laugh.

“Wait. So then where did you sleep?”

“On the floor.”

“Lance you should’ve told me! You could've taken the double bed with Allura or whoever if you wanted,” Keith said, “I was with the kids in Amber’s bed so it wouldn’t have made a difference.”

“Why would I want to sleep in the same bed as Allura?” Lance asked in a confused tone.

Keith looked up at him and then looked over to Pidge who was just watching the whole thing go down.

“I’m guessing that you passed your Allura phase in the last seven years?”

“Of course, she was horrible to you!” Lance huffed.

“Well I’m proud of you for that at least, you’ll just get to have the bed to yourself then.”

“No.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t want a double bed to myself,” Lance said with a pout.

Pidge giggled at how childlike Lance suddenly sounded.

“Fine, what do you want then?” Keith said with a roll of his eyes.

“I’ll sleep there if you stay with me,” He said with a smirk.

“Wha- I swear to god McClain-”  
  
“Hey, no hear me out, you’ve gotta be uncomfortable sleeping in that single bed with all the kids so you can just bunk with me!” He said and his smirk instantly disappeared into a fond smile.

Keith blushed slightly at the thought of sharing a bed but groaned and agreed to it.

“Fine,” Keith mumbled.

Lance put on a soft smile and Keith mirrored it.

“Okay then, well I’m out, I’ll see you guys in a few,” Keith said standing up from the table and putting Julian on the floor so that he could run around and sit on Lance’s lap.

“Where are you going?” Pidge asked with a mouthful of pancakes.

“To patrol the area, I have to make sure that Delilah is in a better mood than yesterday so that we can get through the path-”

Amber gasped, “Are we going to the pool?!”

“Yes, if Delilah is in a good enough mood. Anyways I better get going, make sure Julian and Amber stay out of trouble!” Keith said as he walked through the back door and instantly disappeared.

 

***

 

The rest of the morning was quiet for Lance and most of the other people who woke up before Keith arrived back. Lance was drawing with Julian and Amber at the kitchen table after just putting Amber’s hair up into two short ponytails.

There was a knocking at the back door and Amber shot up to open the door and Keith instantly picked her up and gave her a hug.

“Delilah says that it will be fine as long as we aren’t loud when we are walking, so I’ll need you and Juli to be very quiet okay?” He asked softly.

She nodded her head quickly before going to get her bathing suit with Julian, while Keith sat down at the table with a tired sigh.

“So where exactly is this pool?” Pidge asked, Hunk now sitting next to her as if she hadn’t moved.

“It’s around a 10 minute walk from here, roughly 6 minutes if you take the tree route.”

“The tree route?” Hunk asked.

“Yeah, Amber mentioned it to Pidge before, the vine walking, but I doubt you guys would want to do that, it’s difficult to pick up and I don’t want any of you plunging to your deaths,” Keith said protectively.

“Well at least you care,” Shiro said from the doorway.

“We have our swimmers!” Amber yelled happily.

“Alrighty then, is everyone else in the lounge? We should probably get a wriggle along if we want to have a bonfire there,” Keith explained.

“Yeah, I’ll grab them, you can’t get everyone here outside,” Shiro said and turned to get the missing members.

Keith nodded and showed Pidge, Hunk and Lance through the backdoor while Julian and Amber trailed after. They walked straight into massive foliage and waited a few minutes until the rest joined them.

Walking through the door one by one, Keith noticed how nervous Lizzia grew and she stepped slightly further from Allura.

“I think that we should actually split up into two groups. Me, Lizzia, Amber and Julian can go ahead and set up, and Kona can lead the group to the pool through the jungle.”

“How would you get there quicker?” Allura asked.

Keith pointed up, “Vine walking, well more running but same thing really.”

“Oh, okay then,” She mumbled.

Julian grabbed onto Kona’s hand and pointed towards him, Keith frowned before smiling.

“You want to go with Kona?”

Julian nodded quickly in response.

“Okay then, Kona take good care of him, and no getting into any fights while I’m not around!” Keith said putting a hand on his hip.

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Kona said with a grin.

Keith clapped his hands together, “Let’s get moving then, Lizzia, Ambe- Where did she go?” keith said looking around frantically.

“Up here!!” She shouted from the branch of a tree.

“Of course you are, well see you guys there~” Keith hummed.

“Wait, how do you get up there?” Pidge asked.

Keith continued walking until he suddenly dropped out of their sight.

“Keith!” Lance shrieked.

Lance was about to move when Julian grabbed onto his pants, not even a second later Keith was back up, being propelled through the air until he gracefully backflipped up onto a hanging vine that was pulled tight around a few trees. Keith smiled down at them and Lizzia soon followed.

“Bye,” Lizzia said as she waved to Kona who waved back at her.

Keith continued to hop along the vines that hung in front of him, Amber began to do the same and soon they were all on separate vines running through the trees. Julian turned around and held on to Kona’s hand before reaching up to grab Lance’s hand as well, which Lance easily complied to and gently held the smaller hand in his palm. They began their tiring trek through the hot, sticky jungle, the main thing keeping Lance going was the refreshing water and Keith.

 

***

 

Julian ran through the last few giant leaves and the slapping of feet was heard as he ran off along the dusty earth.

“Wow,” was all Lance could see as he looked at the beautiful turquoise cove.

Tall rocks watched over the cove, the warm sun reflecting the many shades of blue onto it’s red walls. A waterfall fell over the top of the large wall and to one side Lance could make out the faint figure of Keith waving to them. Amber was already swimming in the warm water while Julian was climbing up the steps made out of rocks to get towards Keith. Lance followed after Julian and so did the rest of the group. When they reached the top Keith was playing around with Julian’s ears, pulling two small objects out of a bag that lay on the ground next to him and plopping them into Julian’s ears.

“All good?” He asked Julian loud enough for him to hear.

Julian put his thumbs up and began to walk down a shorter batch of steps that lead to a sort of slide that was engraved into the wall.

“What was that about?” Lance asked as he sat down next to Keith.

“Hmm? Oh, Juli has sensitive ears, usually he wears special hearing aids that block out a lot of the sound, but he wanted to try smaller plugs that block out just as much sound. If he doesn’t wear them on days when his sensitivity is through the roof it can be extremely painful,” Keith explained.

“Oh thank god! I thought that he was just ignoring me because he hated me!” Hunk said, blowing out a relieved breath.

Keith and Lance both smiled before turning back to their conversation.

“Does Amber have sensitive ears as well?”

“No, but she does have an extremely keen sense of smell. Sometimes if she smells some bad things she has to vomit, but other than that her ability is more a pro than a con, kind of like my sight and Lizzy’s taste.”

“Your sight?” Lance asked confused.

“Mhmm, I have great sight, some days I can tell what people are thinking from observing their face. I don’t know if that’s to do with my sight but it does come in handy some days.”

“That’s pretty cool Keith!” Lance said excitedly.

Keith gave a surprised yet happy smile and Lance gave a smile back, glad that he was the one that made Keith smile that way.

“Hey you comin’ in!” Lizzia shouted from the water.

“Yeah! Hold on!” Keith yelled back to her.

He rose to his feet and pulled off his long pants to reveal a pair of board shorts, then pulled off his top to reveal several scars that Lance knew hadn’t existed once before. Keith smiled as he looked down at Lizzia then took a running start before he flung himself over the cliff and down, down, down into the deep blue abyss.

Lance stared in amazement before Keith surfaced from the water and shook his long hair happily, before staring up at Lance with a smile.

“What about you Lance?” He asked smugly.

Lance was already stripping down into his boxers, as they were the only thing he had on under his paladin suit and he didn’t really care anymore, before running up and diving down into the water.

Lance met with Keith’s vibrant purple eyes and wanted to die on the spot.

The rest of the day was filled with swimming and laughter. Between Keith swimming with Julian, Kona getting Hunk to toss him over the cliff, Pidge having a conversation with Lizzia while they tried not to drown, Lance and Amber sneaking around the cove and spitting water at each others faces and then dying dramatically- there was somehow time for Keith to build up a small bonfire.

And as the sunlight slowly began to dwindle away they all sat around the bonfire.

Julian and Amber snuggled into Keith’s chest while everyone else seemed to grow weary. Even though the day had been spent mucking around and pretty much doing nothing, they were all beat. Keith glimpsed down at his two angels that laid against his chest and smiled while he huffed out a laugh.

“I think we should start heading back, quick dinner and then straight into bed for you two, how does that sound?” Keith whispered into their soft curly hair.

Amber hummed while Julian was already fast asleep.

“Okay then, let’s get back home.”

Keith stood up and fought between whether putting out the fire and dragging everyone home, or leaving by himself and hoping that Kona didn’t purposely lead them into the den of a rogue beast. Keith sighed before walking towards the fire and kicking some of the sand over the now small, dwindling flames.

“I think we should start heading back now, everyone looks about ready to hit the sack,” Keith said and Lance stood up next to him and shoveled some more sand and dirt over the fire.

“You want me to take one of them so you can get down the steps alright?” Lance asked quietly, but from his laid back mood Keith noticed how tired he really was.

With a nod Keith handed over Amber and she readjusted and laid her head on Lance’s broad shoulder before falling into a light sleep. Keith smiled as the rest of the paladins as well as Kona and Lizzia, because Kolivan had decided against leaving the house, began to walk down the rock ledge stairs and towards the foliage.

Kona led the way followed by Lizzia, they held hands like an adorable teenage couple, then Shiro, then Hunk, then Allura, then Pidge, then Lance and then Keith. Although Keith was slightly worried whenever Kona would veer off the path slightly and nearly ran into a tree, he couldn’t help but smile whenever Lizzia would pull him back onto the track and he continued to keep walking as if nothing ever happened. They were practically like an old married couple, well that’s what Keith thought at least.

  
***

 

They arrived back at the house minutes later, Keith unlocked the back door and they all walked through.

“Hey Keith? I think we’re just going to go to sleep, we’ll have a bigger breakfast tomorrow instead,” Kona said with a smirk as he pulled Lizzia along so she wouldn’t run into a wall.

“Okay yeah, have a good sleep kiddos!” Keith said as he scruffed up Kona’s hair.

Hunk and Shiro were already passed out on the couch, Allura had already disappeared to her bedroom. So now all that remained were the tired kids, Lance, Keith and Pidge.

Keith sat the Julian down on Lances lap with Amber and began to rummage through the fridge for a yogurt like substance that he knew was there. It tasted similar to mango and strawberries and Keith had been told by the tribe leader Malli that it was very healthy for both of them. He whipped it out of the fridge and put some into two small bowls before pushing them in front of both kids then turning to Pidge.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Hmm, I don’t know but that looks okay,” She said pointing towards the yogurt Keith had.

  
He let out a sigh and dished up another bowl before Lance looked at him with a shy smile and asked for some too.

After Keith had given some yogurt to Lance and Pidge he also got one for himself and ate it quickly, he needed to make sure that the kids stayed awake long enough to brush their teeth. After everyone had finished, which was actually quite fast seeing as they were all hungry, Keith placed all the bowls in the sink and picked Julian back up and then continued towards the bathroom. Lance arrived holding Amber shortly after and Keith was brushing his own teeth and putting the toothpaste on Julian and Amber’s toothbrushes.

“Yuu unt un?” Keith attempted to get out.

“Sorry? Didn’t quite catch that,” Lance said with a smug smile.

Keith quickly rinsed his mouth and pulled out a clean toothbrush. “You want one?”

Lance took it and grabbed some toothpaste before brushing his teeth in time with Amber.

They all had a minty breath and Keith picked Julian up before taking him to his bedroom and laying him down gently next to the ball that was Lizzia, it seemed as though Kona decided that he would sleep on the couch tonight. Lance laid Amber down next to Julian and Keith mumbled a thanks before he attempted to crawl under the covers but Lance just stood there awkwardly.

“Lance?” Keith asked quietly.

“I- well, uhm. You said you would, y’know…” Lance said trying to spark something in Keith’s mind.

Keith gave him a strange look before his features softened and he understood what Lance meant.

“Oh yeah, sorry I’m coming,” Keith said while he got out of the bed.

“That’s what she said,” Pidge mumbled.

“Pidge, c’mon. There are small children who could’ve heard that,” Keith said sarcastically before leading Lance out of the room.

He walked around the corner in the opposite direction of the kitchen and they walked past the toilet to the end of the house where a bedroom with a springy double bed was. 

“Okay then, here's my room,” Keith said softly.

“Hmm, I like it,” Lance said as he took in the plants that rested on Keith’s windowsill.

“Hey Lance? You need to change your clothes, aren’t you still in the clothes you went swimming in?” Keith asked while he looked through his clothes in a wardrobe.

“Uhhh, maybe?”

“Here, just wear these for now.”   
Keith chucked him a stretched white top and a pair of boxers for him to get changed into while Keith got changed in the corner out of sight.

Lance quickly got out of his cold, wet clothes and into the warmer ones that smelt like Keith. He let out a sigh and fell back onto the bed that also smelled like Keith. His mind was going into overdrive and the only thing he could smell around him was Keith. 

The bed dipped down and Keith slipped in under the covers and curled up into a tight, warm ball. Lance laid on his side to look at Keith and was met with Keith’s vibrant eyes once more.

“Hey Keith,” Lance whispered.

“Mmm.”

Lance actually didn’t know what to say, he just wanted to hear Keith’s voice and he could feel himself gradually being pulled towards Keith.

“Uhm, can I, uh-” 

Before Lance could even finish his sentence, Keith had wrapped his warm arms around Lance’s waist and pulled him in for a hug.

“Yes, it’s alright you can,” Keith mumbled.

Lance smiled so wide it actually hurt and wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck, letting his chin rest on Keith’s head. Lance could feel how Keith was tense at first but warmed up to him and melted into the hug.

“Night Lance,” He mumbled into Lance’s chest.

“Mhmm, night Keith.”

Sleep soon overtook them and they stayed warm despite the freezing temperatures that shook the jungle that night. The hug wasn’t broken, well yet at least, the hug wasn’t broken yet/


	5. Chapter 5

  
“Mama,” A voice whimpered.

Keith’s eyes fluttered open to reveal a dark yet familiar room that he recognized as his own.

“Yes dear?” He said, although he couldn’t see who he was talking to.

“Bad dream,” The shadowy figure at the door whispered back.

“Aww sweetie, come here.”  
Keith sat up as best he could but felt a pair of warm arms grip onto his waist, he gave a shocked look as he gazed down at Lance’s peaceful form in a deep sleep. He huffed out a smile and turned his attention to his child that pulled at his sleeve in an attempt to get onto the high bed. Keith smiled and picked the small boy up before nuzzling his hair and peppering his face with kisses and causing him to smile in the dim moonlight that shed lightly through the open blind. Lance loosened his grip on Keith’s waist and stirred in his sleep, Julian looked over to Lance with a slightly confused look.

“Who’s that mama?” He asked slowly, “Is he my papa?”

Keith felt his heart catch in his throat.

“Uh, well honey that’s Lance, how about we talk about this another time. It’s very late and you need to have a good sleep too,” Keith rushed.

“Mama, are you feeling okay?” Julian asked worriedly.

“Hmm? I feel fine, Why’s that love?” Keith asked as he lay down on the soft pillow.

Julian crawled onto his chest.

“Am said that there was a funny smell when we all got back home, and I thought it might have been when mama gets the yucky feeling.”

“No it’s okay, I’m not feeling yucky at all. I’m feeling much better now,” Keith said with a smile.

Julian gave a smile back before cuddling into Keith’s chest in a warm ball, and Keith brushed through the mop of curly hair with his fingers. Julian was such a quiet boy but that didn’t stop him worrying about people, he really was too kind sometimes. Keith closed his eyes and let himself fall back over into the ocean that was his dream. He dreamed of a nice, warm and relaxing house that was painted a light blue. Keith was sure he had seen it before but waved it off and instead spent the time admiring the happy looking house.

 

***

 

The was a strong tug on Lance’s shirt and he immediately sprung up and whipped his head around. Down next to the bed stood a tired and grumpy Amber. Her dark hair was sticking up in every place imaginable and her eyes were stern and weary.

“Hi Amber,” Lance whispered as he leant down to pick her up.

“I wanna sleep with mama and Julian,” She told him while gripping onto her blanket.

“Sorry Am, I don’t know where your mama is,” Lance told her quietly.

“I want mama!” She yelled loudly and a pout formed on her lips.

“Amber, hey, hey it’s okay. I’m sure you-”

She started to cry and the whines echoed around the room, “I want my mommy!!”

Lance’s heart clenched as he listened to the cries infiltrate his ears and watched the sobs that racked her body. He silently picked her up and gave her a big hug in an attempt to calm her down but she kept crying despite it.

“Mama~” She cried softer.

Keith stirred next to them, and sat up tiredly. Tufts of his black hair were stuck in his mouth and he squinted until he finally snapped awake.

“Amber? What is it?” Keith mumbled, sitting up straighter (Haha).

“I-I had a scary dream,” She cried into Lance’s chest.

“Aw, Amber, you too? Come here love.’

Amber crawled out of Lances arms and placed herself securely into Keith’s while she sobbed into his top.

“It’s been a long day Am and you need your sleep for tomorrow. I promise, nothing bad is going to happen. Okay?” Keith hummed, twirling her hair in his fingers.

Julian stirred next to Keith, and Keith noticing quickly pulled both of his children into the centre of the bed in a warm hug. Lance sighed, wriggling back down under the blanket and letting his arm wrap around the three protectively. He really didn’t know why he felt so protective of them all, his Alpha was telling them to protect his family and he was, by fighting the war he was protecting all of his family back home on Earth. 

“Lance?” Keith asked in a quiet voice.

“Mm?”

“Thank you. A lot.”

“It’s nothing at all Keith,” He wasn’t fully sure what Keith was thanking him for but that didn’t mean he had to ruin the moment.

Lance smiled softly, drawing circles on Keith’s back to get him back to sleep. He felt Amber grip onto his body and he only pulled them all closer. He was a walking furnace after all, why not warm his family while he was at it.

Lance suddenly froze.

His family?

He had thought about it without even really, well thinking about it. But, it just felt right. To call them all his family, Julian and Amber his kids. And Keith his husband. A burning sensation fled across Lance’s cheeks and ears, quickly he smooshed his face into Keith’s inky black hair to hide his glowing blush. Keith gave a confused yet worried grunt, as if asking if Lance was okay. An arm wrapped around Lance’s back and he soon realised it to be Keith’s.

With a content sigh, Lance let his warm body calm and fell back into his dreamless sleep.

 

***

 

This time when Lance woke up, he was quite refreshed. It was still quite dark but there was a gentle ray of sunlight somehow finding its way through the windows and lighting up the room. There was a heavy weight on his chest, and when Lance gazed down he was met with two adorable eyes of purple, blue and green. 

“Morning~” Lance said with a kind smile.

Amber tilted her head as she looked at him.

“You look really familiar,” She said out.

“Do I?” Lance said with a questioning smile.

“Yeah.” 

Lance squinted his eyes to make a goofy questioning face, Amber giggled before copying him. They both stared at each other, Lance taking in every part of her soft and cute face. Her deep eyes, her dark chocolate brown hair, the nearly unnoticeable freckles that dotted over her cheeks and nose. She was truly an adorable kid, and she reminded him so much of Keith, their whole facial structure was quite similar.

‘Keith must be their dad? But that still doesn’t explain where their mom is. I’m actually kinda worried for her.’

Amber hummed, grabbing Lance’s attention instantly.

“Are you my papa?” She asked quietly.

Lance froze once more.

“I- uh.”

“Mama said that papa was fighting for us somewhere far away, and that even though we couldn’t see him he still loves us very, very, very much! Mama said that we’ll see him one day but for now mama would give us double the love until papa got home!” Amber said with a big smile as she threw her arms up in the air. 

Lance gave a shy smile.

“I think Keith would better suit your papa than me,” He managed to get out.

Amber sat up straighter and looked between Keith sleeping face and then Lance’s. She tilted her head and then pointed towards Keith.

“But mama can’t be papa and mama. Mama is only mama, because mama can’t be two! Mama is mama and papa is papa! Sep-ar-ate people!” She said using her hands to gesture once more.

Lance looked over to Keith.

“Wait, Keith’s your-”

“That’s my mama! Mama always takes care of Juli and me when we are sick but whenever mama gets sick he says he’s fine! But mama isn’t and then we need to go and find Uncle Malli, and he tells us that mama just needs to rest again. Then we get to have a pajama day and we all get to sleep in mama’s bed!”

Lance rolled over and pulled Amber with him so that she was now in the middle of the bed again with Julian.

“Your mama is an amazing person,” Lance said to her, still grasping the fact that Keith was their mother.

Then it hit him, if Keith was their mother then that means he was an Omega! A male Omega? Was that even an actual thing? Lance’s head began to spin slightly but he didn’t let his hug on Amber falter. She smiled and patted his face.

“Mhmm! And you’re my papa now!” She said with a smile.

“W-what? But I’m no-”

“I think that you look a lot like how my papa looks,” She said quickly.

“...Okay then, I’ll be your papa. But this stays a secret, you got it?” Lance said with a grin and held up some fingerguns before he laughed, “I said ya got it partner?”

Amber giggled before answering, “I sure do...partner~!”

“Wow, your good with your accent ain’t ya pal.”

“Mmhmm! Juli and me always play Cowboys! Sometimes we play Cowboys and Indians but we mostly end up playing Indians instead! It’s really fun! You should play with us some time papa!” Amber whispered excitedly.

Lance’s heart clenched as he was called ‘papa’, he didn’t fully know why. Probably just all the sudden surprise finally getting to him. Amber started to get restless, she was currently running around the room while Lance got dressed and Keith and Julian still laid asleep in the warm, protecting bed. Lance could hear their cute snores and his heart was going to collapse from the adorableness. 

“Papa! Let’s go get some breakfast! Mama says warriors need to eat healthy breakfast so they grow up strong!” Amber whispered into his ear as she had not long crawled up his back.

“Okay then young warrior, do you think we should wake mama and Juli up yet or wait until we’re done as a surprise?” Lance asked while he set Amber carefully on his shoulders.

 

“Surprise!” She said with a happy giggle.

“Okay then, onward to make breakfast!”

And with that Lance ducked through the doorway and walked into the kitchen, where he found Hunk already cooking breakfast and Pidge once again faceplanting as she attempted to awaken herself.

“Morning Pidge, morning Hunk!” Lance said with a cheery smile.

“Hello Aunty Pidge! Hi Uncle Hunk!” Amber said with a wave and Hunk nearly dropped his frying pan then and there.

“Aww I’m an uncle!” Hunk said with a bright smile and Amber smiled back at him shyly.

Pidge rolled her head to the side, “Why are you so chipper this morning?” Pidge asked.

“I just had a really good sleep,” Lance said back.

“Really? Hey, well that’s good then,” She smiled.

Lance simply nodded.

Amber crawled down off of Lance’s shoulders and tugged Pidge down to her height.

“Papa and me are gonna make mama some breakfast!” She said excitedly whispered to Pidge.

Pidge gave Lance a wide eyed look.

“Does your papa know that he’s your papa?” Pidge whispered back to her.

“I don’t think so, papa isn’t very quick. But last night he said that mama would be better suited to be papa and it was very silly! Mama can’t be both mama and papa because that’s a lot of hard work-”

Amber suddenly froze.

“B-but that’s what mama has been...has been d-doing,” She said with a suddenly worried look.

“Amber? You alright kiddo?” Lance said crouching down next to her.

“B-bad smell, I-I’m gonna be s-sick!” She said and held her hand in front of her mouth.

Lance quickly gave her a hug and rubbed her back to calm her down.

“P-papa I want mama,” She was able to mumble out.

“Okay, let’s go get your mama-”

“No need,” Keith said and knelt down next to Lance.

He started to rub Amber’s back along with Lance.

“Amber? You okay?” Keith hummed and began now stroking her hair affectionately.

“Yucky smell,” She said quickly.

“There is? Okay then, I’ll find your mask and we’ll try to hunt down the smell!” Keith said with a positive smile.

She nodded her head and turned back to Lance, shoving her face into his chest.

“Uh, Keith? Why?” Lance said quietly.

“Your scent is stronger than mine, it probably blocks out the smell. Hold on for a little more, I’ll go find her mask,” Keith said before hurrying away.

Julian, who was before clinging onto Keith, now ran over and peered at Amber over Lance’s leg. He gave her a worried look and played with her short hair to help her calm down. Lance smiled at how caring Julian was, Keith had raised them well. While Lance continued to think his mind floated back to the fact that these were Keith’s legitimate kids, meaning that Keith...got pregnant.

‘Wait a second. If Keith had them, then that means that he had an Alpha already? But I haven’t seen anyone around yet, and Alpha’s are very protective of their Omega’s so where is he?’ Lance’s mind raced.

The possibilities running through his head. Lance was still confused however, when a sudden thought struck him.

‘What if...I- no, that doesn’t work at all. Amber said that she and Julian were turning 6, Keith left at least 7 and a bit years ago, so although that’s only a small gap- it couldn’t be me because pregnancy only takes 9 months or something like that!’ Lance thought, and although he was reassuring himself he couldn’t help but feel empty after he had reasoned it.

“Okay Am, I’ve got your mask,” Keith said as he sat down on the ground.

Amber quickly ran over to Keith and hugged him, taking in deep breathes. Lance was still lost in thought as Keith securely placed the small plain black surgical mask over her mouth and nose. He looked up and noticed Lance’s worried look as Julian crawled up his back.

“Lance? You feeling alright?” Hunk asked.

Lance looked up to see worried faces and quickly waved it off, “Oh yeah, I’m fine you guys!”

“Hmm, okay then. Hey Keith? Could you make me some coffee? No one else can do it right,” Pidge wined and rolled around on her chair.

“O~Kay~” Keith sung.

As Keith made several coffees for himself and the rest with Julian on his hip, Lance sat down and was instantly dished up some food Hunk made. He gave Hunk a big grin before Amber stood next to his leg and began to tap it, he gave her a questioning look before he realised, bringing her to sit on his knee while he was at it.

“Hey Keith?” Lance said while he started to eat his breakfast.

“Hmm?”

“Amber wanted to surprise you with breakfast this morning.”

Keith placed the coffees down on the table and took a seat next to Lance with Julian now sitting on his knee.

“Aw, Amber that’s really sweet love,” He said to her with a warm smile.

She looked down at her lap and started to play with her thumbs.

“Say, how about we have a lazy day today. There’s a nice hot spring out the back that we could soak in for a while,” Keith said with a smile while he fed Julian some food he couldn’t reach.

“Mm sounds gucci,” Pidge mumbled into her cup.

“Yeah, I like the sound of that,” Hunk hummed.

“Yep! I’m in!” Lance chimed.

Keith smiled brighter and looked over to Amber.

“You can have some of the forest berries, they’ll make you feel better and it’ll be a good breakfast too,” he said and ruffled her hair.

She gave a happy look and held tightly onto Keith’s hand as if saying thank you.

Julian shoveled the last crumbs of food into his mouth and Keith wiped away the specks that remained on his cheeks. Pidge happily sipped her coffee while Hunk made more- whatever it was for the others. That’s when Keith realised something.

“Hey, where’s Kolivan? I haven’t really seen him today or yesterday really.”

The room was silent until Hunk spoke up.

“Honestly I’m not sure, maybe this is like a vacation for him and he is using it to his advantage for sleep?”

“Hmm, probably.”

Lance gulped down his coffee before he picked Amber up and spun her around with a wide smile.

“Okay then! Well let’s get to that hot spring!”

Amber shot her fists into the air and cheered while Julian giggled.

“Whelp let’s go, you guys coming?” Keith said to Pidge and Hunk.

“Who do you take me for Keef?” Pidge said sleepily.

“Okay well come on.”

Keith led them all out the back door and down the clear path that twisted around to a small cave. He pushed aside some overgrown vines and everyone gaped at the crystal clear hot springs. The roof had a large whole in it, letting sunlight drape through and make the water sparkle. Amber took off her mask and waddled happily over to Keith.

“Can I go searching for berries?” She said with a smile.

“Take your brother with you and make sure you stay on the edge of the jungle, okay? No going too far in,” Keith said with a nod.

“Okay~! Juli we’re going to pick berries!” Amber sung.

Julian immediately shot up and dropped softly out of his mother’s arms before Amber took his hand and led him over to the edge of the large jungle.

The other’s walked through and stripped into their underwear before sliding into the warm springs while Keith tied up the vines so that the entrance was now fully open. Keith walked up and sat himself next to the water, letting his feet dangle in it.

“You aren’t coming in?” Lance asked with a frown.

Keith shook his head, “Don’t really feel like getting in right now.”

Lance gave him a worried look but leaned against the sides and calmed down anyway.

 

* * *

 

“Am, I can’t see the house anymore, mama said to stay close,” Julian whispered to his adventurous sister.

“Shh it’s okay Juli, just a little bit further is a really big patch of yummy berries!” Amber said reassuring her brother.

Julian gripped onto her hand tighter and let her lead the way.

Not long after all their walking they reached a clearing, off to the side there was a big bush full of a golden coloured berry that Malli had told them was safe to eat. Julian smiled happy and ran over to the bush, picking a few berries and plopping them in his mouth. His eyes widened when they popped and the sweet juice spread throughout his mouth. 

“Yummy!” He shouted happily with a little dance.

Amber joined him and they both laughed happily as they filled up their pockets with golden and delicious berries. They played around for a bit, well Amber played around and Julian mostly sat and watched her dance and applaud when he wanted to. 

It was great fun for the two, so much that they hadn’t realised how long they had been away until they heard someone.

“God! I swear we won’t find anything at this pace! Look it’s the middle of the day and we haven’t seen one beast or animal in general!” A voice yelled angrily.

Julian froze from his place on the ground, while Amber stood still in the centre of the open area. 

“Hey! This planet is full of exotic creatures and objects that we could sell and get tons of money for!”

“Yeah yeah, if we don’t find anything in the next few minutes we’re leaving for the next plan-” 

The two men broke through the bush and instantly saw Julian and Amber, their faces immediately turning into malicious smiles.

“Hey there kids,” The fatter said with a fake smile, “Where’s your mom? You two out here alone?”

Julian only froze more if that was possible and Amber inched towards her brother.

“N-no, our mama is at the hot springs,” She managed to get out and reached her brother.

“Oh, is that so?” The skinnier of the two said, “Well then, can you two help us? We seem to be a bit lost.”

“Mama told us not to talk to strangers,” Amber mumbled out and grabbed her brother’s hand tightly.

“Aww, come on. Just a little help? We’ll give you some sweets!” The fat one said and pulled some glowing green food from his pocket.

Amber cringed back.

“No thank you, we don’t like...f-food,” She stuttered out.

“Now we know you’re fibbing, who doesn’t like food,” The skinny man said.

Suddenly they were both lunging to catch the smaller kids, Amber pulled up her brother as quickly as she could and started running towards the jungle. However they were not fast enough and one of the men grabbed onto Julian’s ankle which caused both of the children to fall over. Julian let out an extremely loud shrill scream that Amber was sure the whole forest would hear before the fatter man covered his mouth with his dirty hand.

“Shut up would ya! We don’t want anyone taking you two from us now would we!”

The skinnier man quickly covered Amber’s mouth before she had a chance to scream.

“What do ya think? How much for the both of them. They look healthy and from what it seems an intermix of Galra and something else- can’t be older than 8 if you ask me and by the looks of em they’d sell pretty well on the black market.”

The other agreed.

Amber had no clue what was going on, but she knew that she didn’t like it- they were talking strangely and she was extremely scared. But not scared enough to simply stay quiet. She quickly moved her head up and bit down hard on the mans hand, drawing blood, before she screamed out as loud as she could.

“MAMA HE-” 

But she was cut off when she was thrown to the ground. Julian struggled with tears in his eyes as he watched his sister be thrown across the clearing. He closed his eyes tightly and prayed that his mama would come and save them quickly.

 

* * *

 

Keith had been feeling…off ever since Julian and Amber went off to find berries 20 minutes ago. He was starting to get worried as they still hadn’t returned. 

He bounced his leg up and down in the water while he bit his nail and tapped a hand on his thigh. He was a bundle of nerves, never had he left the kids alone for this long before- if he ever had a longer trip he would take them with him. Something was definitely wrong, he could feel it. 

He was suddenly snapped out of his trance when Lance laid his hand over Keith’s and squeezed it.

“Keith? What’s wrong?” He asked protectively.

“I just- something’s not right. Amber and Juli should be back by now,” Keith said biting his nail harder.

“Hey, it’s okay. Let’s go look for them then,” Lance said and Keith gave him a smile.

As Lance made his way over to a lower ledge and began to pull himself up, there was a shrill cry that made all of Keith’s senses spike almost immediately. And suddenly before he knew it he was already out of the cave and running towards the jungle when he heard another shout that was quickly cut off. He ran faster despite his name being called behind him and before he knew it he was standing in a clearing, his eyes landing on his daughter in the ground and whimpering while his son was restrained by two men.

And Keith saw red.

“Get your dirty hands off my fucking kid!” He screeched and roundhouse kicked one of the men in the head. 

Keith quickly swept Julian into his arms and moved over to pick up Amber when he was suddenly being held up with a knife to his throat. He looked over his shoulder to find the skinnier man holding the knife. Quickly he ducked down as the man reacted slowly, Keith was fast enough that only his hair payed the price- getting cut to at least shoulder length. Keith smiled and punched the guy in the nose before kicking him backwards to where he had once kicked that fatter of the men.

His eyes flicked up- the fat man was no longer laying against the tree that he had been and before Keith could turn around he felt something stab into his neck and this time he couldn’t see what it was. There was a sudden rush that went through his veins and he wanted to vomit- they’d put something in him and he didn’t want it. The syringe was pulled out of his neck and he instantly brought his hand up to cover where the syringe had once been.

“What the fuck did you just inject into me?!” Keith screamed as he guarded his kids protectively.

“Nothing much, but we won’t have to deal with you after this and we’ll be taking your kids on a short trip to the black markets,” The fat one said.

Keith hissed as he hugged both Julian and Amber as they cried into his shirt.

“KEITH! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Lance’s screams echoed through the jungle.

The two men looked at each other before bolting off back into the jungle before Lance slid to a stop next to Keith with a worried look.

“Keith? Keith! What happened?!” Lance shouted in concern.

However Keith could hear nothing, his vision was slowly fading and suddenly he was falling. He could faintly feel his kids still in his arms and the warm and safe arms that were holding him but not long before he blacked out.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is everything about to fall apart of come together?

“KEITH!” Lance belted out again and again as he ran after the man.

He had no idea where he was going as he grew further and further away but he seemed to be in a hurry and that scream they all heard earlier definitely wasn’t calming Lance’s nerves. He was a puffing, sweating mess and he had finally lost sight of Keith, but that didn’t stop the running or the calling out for him, in fact it only amplified it. Lance’s legs pumped, the ground was hard against his bare feet and the vegetation flew by him in bursts of green.

“KEITH! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Lance screamed out.

A short time flew by and he was getting anxious about catching up to Keith when he broke through into a clearing. His Alpha was about to break out and physically murder whoever hurt the boy that was curled up around his children in the middle of the clearing.

“Keith? Keith! What happened?!” Lance shouted concerned.

But Keith didn’t answer, instead he fell against Lance’s shoulder out cold and this only made Lance worry more.

“Keith, oh god!” He stressed.

Lance now turned his attention to Julian and Amber who were sobbing and shaking, pulling them into a hug he reassured them that their mom was going to be okay.

“Lance! Why the hell did you just run of- OH MY GOD KEITH!” Pidge screeched as she slid down to the group.

Hunk followed out of the shrubbery and as his eyes fell on Keith, he instantly ran towards them as well.

“What’s wrong? What happened to him?” Pidge asked quickly.

“The- there were bad men, and they were going to hurt us- and then mama came and he hurt the bad men so that they couldn’t hurt us. B-but mama got caught and then the fat man stabbed him with a needle thingy and mama got sick,” Julian cried against Lance’s chest.

The group went quiet and turned their attention to Keith who was being securely held by Lance. Pidge moved forward but Lance shot her down with a deep growl that made Hunk widen his eyes.

“Lance, look I know that your Alpha doesn’t want anyone near Keith but you have to let us help him or he might die!” Pidge said in an attempt to reason with Lance.

Julian suddenly froze and sat back, staring up at Pidge with wide and fearful eyes.

“M-mama is going to die?” He said quietly.

Pidge felt as though she had been shot in the stomach and a deep fear quelled in her stomach.

“No! Oh no no no no, Keith isn’t going to die. We can help your mama and we’re going to help him oka-” PIdge said hurriedly but was cut off.

“Wait- Keith is an Omega!” Hunk almost screamed and Pidge gave him a look.

“Yes, glad you finally caught up. I’m surprised that you aren’t having the reaction I thought Lance,” Pidge said as Julian clung to Keith like there was no tomorrow, because in all honesty they might not have one with Keith in it.

“This really isn’t the time Pidge,” Lance growled and picked Keith up bridal style, while Julian and Amber sat on top of Keith.

“Yeah- c’mon Hunk we need to get him back to the house,” Pidge said standing up and running after Lance who had already disappeared.

“Keith’s an Omega?” Hunk breathed.

“HUNK!” Pidge screamed.

Hunk was startled but followed the small group back to the house as anxious as everyone else. Despite all this Pidge and Hunk couldn’t help but notice how remotely calm Lance was as he ran gently back through the forest. He was handling this situation extremely well when they didn’t even know how dangerous the stuff that was injected into Keith actually was.

They soon reached the house and Lance kicked down the back door, startling Lizzia and Kona who were both in the kitchen talking aimlessly. Lizzia looked at Lance with shock before staring at Keith with wide eyes.

“Quickly get him to the couch,” She said hurriedly, “What happened to him? Insect bite? Was it a rogue beast? No no Delilah wouldn't let that happen,” She mumbled the last bit.

Lance gently placed Keith down on the couch and Julian and Amber quickly hopped off to stare at Keith in hopes he’d magically get better.

“Julian says that he was fighting off some people that were trying to hurt them and one of the guys stabbed him with something- probably a syringe? And then Keith just- I don’t know he’s just out to it now,” Pidge said standing behind the crouching Lizzia.

“Lizz?” Kona said softly.

“We need to get pops and ma,” Lizzia said looking at Kona with a worried look.

“That bad?” And when all Kona received was a nod he put on a strained look and suddenly bolted out the door.

Lance sat down near the arm of the couch and Julian and Amber sat in his lap, he hugged them with a reassuring warmth. Pidge and Hunk stood behind Lizzia as she checked Keith’s neck where the syringe had been stuck in.

“I need you two to help me move Keith onto the ground,” Lizzia said grabbing Keith’s arms.

Hunk and Pidge nodded, Hunk grabbing Keith’s feet while Pidge set down a blanket on the ground before they placed him down cautiously. Lizzia let out a sigh and ran away quickly but not before telling them that no one was to move him from that spot.

While this was going on Julian and Amber seemed to cry more, though it was quieter and Lance hugged them more than ever the thought of losing their mother scared them.

Terrified them.

Lance stroked down Amber’s hair and nuzzled Julian’s hair in a further attempt to calm them down, hoping that it would work.

Lizzia was running back with white chalk in her hand and she dropped to the ground and began to draw patterns, scribbles and words- well that’s what it looked like to Lance, all around Keith’s body before she froze and sat up straight. She stared at Keith who was now panting, his face flushed red and sweating like crazy.

“Julian, Amber I need you two to do me a really big favor. Your mommy needs you to be strong for him and get the herbs from out the front, okay? Can you do that for me?” Lizzia asked calmly, but loud enough for the two to hear.

Amber pushed back and looked at Lizzia before looking at Keith, she whimpered but pulled back Julian in a way that was screaming that they needed to help their mom.

“And can you three go with them? They shouldn’t be going alone right now,” Lizzia said up to the three adults.

They all nodded before Julian and Amber led them out the front door, even though Lance really didn’t want to leave Keith’s side he pushed his Alpha to follow the adorable children in front of him to collect herbs and help Keith rather than sit there and do nothing but whine.

They reached a small bed of plants and such, Lance squatted down to look for the herbs that Amber was describing when Pidge started talking to him.

“Lance?” She said slowly.

“Hmm?” He hummed in response.

“Are you okay?”

Lance let out a sigh, “Honestly no. If I was just there, I could've stopped him from getting hurt and- and now my Omega might die because I wasn’t there to help him!”

“ ‘My Omega’ huh?” Pidge said with a small smirk.

Lance’s heart caught in his throat, did he say that? He just said that Keith was HIS Omega! That’s not how it works! He wanted to shout at his Alpha, this was his fault for getting bonded to Keith- Keith didn’t even want any of this.

“I-I didn’t mean it like that,” Lance quickly spat out, blushing.

Pidge just sighed, “So, why weren’t you surprised that he was an Omega?”

“I already knew,” Lance stated.

“What! Did Keith tell you? Oh my god he told you! Is that why you’ve been so close to him and your kids?! I thought that he wouldn’t tell you in case you stayed here and he was probably thinking that he’d only cause more trouble or something like that!” Pidge rambled.

Lance tried to fake a hearty laugh but with the current circumstances but it sounded broken.

“Rewind Pidge, are you playing this game as well? Amber woke up and said that I was her dad or that I looked like how she thought he’d look? Or something. Don’t tell me you’re the one who gave her that idea.”

Pidge gave him a wide eyed look and quietened instantly.

“Y-you mean Keith didn’t say?” She didn’t continue.

“...Pidge?”

Pidge stayed silent.

“C’mon, Pidge what aren’t you telling me?” Lance said worriedly.

“It’s not really my place to say,” Pidge said quietly as she picked one of the herbs.

“What do you mean?”

“Lance, you really are dense, y’know that?” Pidge sighed.

Lance only gave her a confused look when a shrill scream pierced their ears and they were already moving, Julian and Amber already through the door.

As Lance walked in his senses were overpowered with the scent of a distressed Omega in pain and he instantly growled. Lizzia was trying to keep Keith calm, laying wet cloths over his forehead and she really did not need a growling Lance to tense the room further. Amber and Julian were now sitting next to their mother and holding tightly onto his hand, which was surprisingly enough to calm him down slightly. Lance joined in, setting Keith’s head down on his lap and combing back his hair with a worried frown.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay everyone. Kona is a fast runner, believe me I’ve been the one chasing him thousands of times, he’ll be back soon with help,” Lizzia said looking down at Keith’s flushed body.

The room stayed silent until a thumping was heard growing closer, Shiro appeared with Allura standing next to him.

“What the hell is going on here?” Shiro asked as he walked into the room and saw Keith lying on Lance’s lap.

“Keith got hurt,” Pidge put simply as she avoided both Allura’s and Shiro’s gazes.

“And how did this happen exactly?” Allura said.

Before anyone could answer Kona burst through the door.

“I GOT THEM BOTH!” He screamed before ushering two new people into the cramped room.

A lady was the first person that they all noticed, she had tanned skin and short brown hair tied up in a low ponytail. As she set her sights on Keith her face showed an expression of pain and she quickly ran forward to reach him. The next man who walked in also had a similar response to the situation, his skin was tinted a light green and he had a tall and sturdy build- similar to Shiro except taller. They had both bolted down to Keith and Lizzia, while the woman checked in with Lizzia, the man spoke to Kona in what seemed to be a native tongue. Kona’s expression darkened and his skin took on it’s greener tint like it had once before, a snake like tongue stuck out and he stared at the ground in front of him.

As the woman grew closer to Keith Lance let out a deep growl, she shot him a glare and Lance shut up as he worriedly matted his hands into Keith’s now short hair. Her hands hovered above Keith’s shaking and sweaty body, the room was filled with an unsettling silence as a calming green light grew from her hands. She sat back quickly and gave Keith a solemn look before turning to the rest.

“He seems to have been poisoned, but the poison is only affecting his Galra genes. Keith is a strong boy and an even stronger mother,” She said ruffling Amber’s hair, “He’ll pull through for us with some help.”

She smiled at the two children before looking at the rest of the group.

“There’s too many people here, can we please clear the room?” She said calmly.

The group moved out of the room, all but Lance, Julian, Amber and the lady had left the room.

“My name’s Lecara, it’s nice to meet you,” Lecara said with a nod of her head.

Lance nodded his head in response, attempting to calm himself down before he spoke, “Nice to meet you too, I’m Lance.”

Lecara’s eyes narrowed, “Oh. So you’re Lance, I’ll be having a word with you after we get Keith all healed up and into bed.”

Lance didn’t know why, but he was slightly concerned after she said that, however he was snapped out of his thoughts when she placed one hand on Keith’s stomach and the other where the syringe had been injected. The green glow that Lance had seen once before envelope Keith’s entire body. Keith’s sweating and shaking suddenly began to die down, until it looked like he was sleeping peacefully.

Lecara sat back like she had once before and let out a tired breath.

“Okay, your mom’s okay now,” She said down to Amber and Julian who were in tears.

“Thank you Aunty Le!” Amber said before tackling her into a hug.

“I’m always here to help, now to get your mommy into bed.”

Lance understood and with a nod he moved forward and picked Keith up bridal style, before walking down the hall to his bedroom. Nudging the door open with his foot he wandered forward and gently set Keith down on the springy bed. Pulling up the covers, he tucked Keith in and patted down his hair with a fond smile before giving him a peck on the forehead.

His actions no longer shocked him, he had loved Keith for a long time now, and he just wished that he hadn’t have acted the way he did 7 years ago. Maybe things would’ve been different...but that was in the past which he couldn’t change.

Keith smiled in his sleep and Lance gave another soft smile in return to it and was only pulled out of his goofy mood when Amber and Julian started to tug on the sheets in an attempt to climb up. After Lance picked them both up they curled up with Keith and Lance’s attention was once again taken away from Keith, Lecara walked in and stood while Lance took a seat at the end of the bed.

“So.”

“So?” Lance repeated nervously.

“You’re Lance,” She hummed.

“...I feel like this is a trap.”

Lance was then punched in the face.

He brought his hand up to his nose and started to feel for blood which luckily there was none.

“What the actual fu-” He started but then remembered the small children in the room who were probably asleep but just incase.

“You left our boy all alone; pregnant, scared, confused. When he suddenly appeared here we had no idea what to do with him, he was just laying on the ground surrounded by animals! Do you know how dangerous that is? We’re just lucky that the forest beast made a stake on him,” She grumbled pulling a chair up.

  
“But how? He- I,” Lance then decided to stop talking because anything that came out of his mouth ended up making no sense and half of it was Spanish.

  
“When we found Keith, he was scared and pregnant. We had no clue why he was here and the first thing he told us was ‘I was about to die’, so as soon as we heard that we already knew we had to take him in and over time he warmed up to us and began to tell us of the rest of your group. You in particular.”

Lance stayed quiet on the bed, shifting slightly and twiddling his thumbs.

“He told us the reasons he left- how he didn’t want to stay there and knew that he couldn’t raise his, well at first he said child but that ended up being a surprise also. Why did you tell him the things you did? Do you even know the pain that you caused him emotionally, mentally and physically? To be told by your Alpha you’re not loved while carrying twins?” She said, keeping her voice low.

Lance froze, “Hold on, I know what I did was wrong and I regret everything I said, but I’m not Keith’s-”

Before he could finish his sentence Lecara gave her a sad look which made Lance freeze in fear. Not for himself, instead fear for not only Keith, but Amber and Julian as well. For six years of their lives they’d grown up without a ‘father’, and that thought made Lance’s stomach churn- because he had been that missing space, the person who was supposed to be there and help look after them wasn’t there. He missed them first speak, first walk- first everything because of how he reacted towards the man he loves and now he regrets it even more than he had before.

“I’m guessing he had decided to keep it a secret, I’m also going to guess that he was going to help you all get back to your home and stay here to raise Amber and Julian. He really does not like this Allura person- I assume she was the lady with the white hair?”

Lance gave a small nod in response, still attempting to process this information.

“Hmm, I understand Keith’s reasoning, she has an off look about her- Julian’s concerns also make sense.”

“I’ll protect them, I swear,” Lance managed to get out.

“Oh I know you will, otherwise Keith will kill her himself and we really don’t want that. Omega’s can be scary enough as it is but when they get overprotective all shit hits the fan. I know from personal experience, my wife got extremely protective of our kids- and when we took Lizzia in after her escape pod from the Galra prison crash landed, let’s just say that she wouldn’t sleep at all for a week until Lizzia was fully healed and a lot of other people got injured in the process.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you had a wife,” Lance said, now seemingly interested.

“Yes, she’s back at our tribe right now- we all agreed that she might kill someone if she saw Keith in a bad state so it was probably best for her to stay behind.”

“Yeah, I don’t think any of us would be too keen cleaning up blood,” Lance joked.

“Indeed. I suppose I should leave you alone now Lance, when Keith wakes up make sure that you don’t bombard him with your questions, he’ll be tired and this is a subject that is close to his heart in many ways as I’m sure it is to you.”

“I know everything I did was extremely wrong, and I know that no matter how much I apologise it can’t make up for what I’ve done. I love Keith and even if he doesn’t love me back I can’t leave him here and abandon him like I had once before.”

Lecara smiled softly as she lay a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“These are things you’ll have to talk about with Keith, but I can tell you this; he should hate you for what you’ve done, but I don’t think he has the heart to. He loves you Lance, and love conquers hate when it’s true.”

And with that, Lecara left Lance to his own thoughts in the quiet room. Keith’s soft snores soon filled the air, catching Lance’s attention and calming him down. He looked at the three all curled up around each other in a warm ball, and Lance wanted so badly to join it and protect them all.

And so he did.

Swiftly he pulled the covers up just enough for him to slip into, and then curled up around the three, nuzzling into Keith’s neck and short hair.

* * *

When Keith woke, he felt...different.

It wasn’t a bad kind of different. In fact he felt great.

Turning over his nose bumped into another nose, a tanned and freckled one that he knew not to be Amber or Julians. He was then met with blue eyes, the ones that reminded him of the ocean and the warm sun.

It was Lance.

And before Keith was even able to let out his surprised response, warm and slightly cracked lips met his own. Keith felt a type of bliss wash over him and his eyes fluttered shut. He felt warm and bubbly, and all his worries melted away as he moved his arms up to link around Lance’s neck. When they broke apart Keith smiled against his lips, Lance mirroring him before Keith let out a happy, bubbly laugh.

Lance held onto Keith’s waist and kissed his forehead.

“What made this happen all of a sudden,” Keith asked quietly.

Lance was calm when choosing his words, “Keith, we need to talk about some stuff.”

Keith instantly tensed, a worried scent filled the room.

“Hey, it’s nothing bad,” Lance said and pulled Keith closer into an inviting hug, “I just want to talk with you.”

“...Okay, what about,” Keith mumbled, but the scent still hung in the room.

“Keith, I’m sorry. I should’ve listened to you back then, and instead I missed out on everything. I didn’t make you feel safe and wanted when you needed it most- I abandoned all three of you and I missed so much. So many important things that I wasn’t here to see and I missed you most of all. I love you so so much Keith. So so much- and I’m sorry that I reacted the way I did, and said all those things I didn’t mean one bit back then.”

Keith pushed away from his chest and Lance was scared he said something he shouldn’t have. And when he saw the tears running down Keith’s cheeks he felt worse than before.

But that was before he leaned up and pressed his lips back onto Lance’s. Their lips molded together and moved as one, until they pulled away for air.

“I love you too. Even after seven years I still love you, I could never not,” Keith said wiping his face in an attempt to stop the tears.

Lance pulled his hands down and wiped away the tears with his thumbs before kissing his nose happily.

“And even though you have missed things, I’m sure we can make up for it before you all leave, it’ll be short but that means we’ll just have to pack it all into a few hours,” Keith hummed sadly.

“What? Keith you don’t think I’d leave you again, right?” Lance said, pulling Keith up so their eyes met again.

Keith looked away sheepishly. “It’s selfish of me to want you to stay, you have a universe to save and you can’t stay here with us. You still need to stop Haggar and Lotor.”

Lance paused, looking down at Keith’s gentle hands which were holding onto his own, “Actually, we already have. Lotor’s off in some split dimension thing, and Haggar’s dead as far as we all know. The only reason that any of us are still up here is because there were a few planets that still needed saving. But now, we don’t really have anything to do here.”

“So you can go back to Earth? That’s great, you can see your family again.”

“Keith, you three are my family. I’m not leaving you or Julian or Amber, not now and not ever again.”

Keith starting crying again, burying his face into Lance’s chest, “Goddammit Lance, you’re making me all warm inside.”

“Well good, that’s my goal and I’ll be making you feel like that every time I’m able,” Lance hummed before peppering Keith’s face with kisses.

Keith let out another laugh but stopped when he felt a tugging on his arm, with a smile he lifted it up to reveal a weary eyed Julian and a tired Amber leaning on his back. Julian crawled over and then hung onto Keith like a koala while Lance placed Amber in the middle.

“Mommy and papa are together now, and now we can all be warm and happy,” Julian said sleepily.

Lance smiled and hugged them all tightly.

“I love you all very much.”

Amber hung onto Lance before she fell back to sleep and Keith smiled before kissing Lance on the cheek.

“I think we should start waking up, we’ve got a big day ahead of us and I just hope that Delilah’s in a better mood today,” Keith said slowly sitting up.

They begun to get up, Julian slept in Keith’s arms while Amber hung off of Lance’s arms like a monkey- while she made monkey like noises. Lance smiled down and put her on top on his shoulders after they’d walked out of the room. Soon they arrived in the lounge to find the rest of the group there, well minus Kolivan- who had returned back to their groups base to continue aiding people from the shadows. Or well that’s what Lance overheard last night.

“Keith, we all need to speak with you, today is the day that we’re able to leave after all,” Allura said from her seat on the couch.

Keith froze while Lance glared from behind.

“...Okay,” Keith mumbled out.

They took their seats, not prepared for the storm that was about to hit them.


End file.
